


Transitions: The Neopaths

by yinyang2261



Series: Transitions [12]
Category: The Tomorrow People (1973), The Tomorrow People (1992)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-23
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2020-09-24 12:09:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 31,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20358256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yinyang2261/pseuds/yinyang2261
Summary: Stephen and Autumn task the newest Tomorrow People to practice their individual and group skills with an international scavenger hunt.The Transitions storyline will cover events from March 1979 to June 1980





	Transitions: The Neopaths

**Author's Note:**

> Author’s Notes: This story brings a focus to what was vaguely alluded to regarding how new breakouts are able to transition into the Tomorrow People world. Occasionally, the viewer would see a reference about developing their special powers; such as when Stephen was training Tyso in the usage of his telekinesis in Worlds Away, or vocally suggested, such as when Stephen and Tyso were training Mike how to jaunt during One Law. And then, there is the usual world these new breakouts are still having to live in. What if some of their environments have already been distressful and violent, through legacy or personal experience? With a personal past already established, how would trust develop within themselves with these newfound abilities, and with the people who are still mysterious to them in those early days of discovery? What does one do when their closest relatives are already telepaths? Will their personal goals and dreams they had, be delayed or cancelled, due to having acquired these special powers? These are just a few of the thoughts and concerns these new Tomorrow People will face as they take their first steps into a larger universe.
> 
> Prior stories that introduce these new Tomorrow People are in Transitions: The Empty Town, and Transitions: Breakouts, Duties, and Final Obligation I.

Havenshire Castle, Scotland  
August 1979

“Not bad,” Stephen began as he walked in early morning fog around the Scottish castle. 

It was humid and the sun gave a luminescent glow through the fog. Stephen smelled the fresh rain-soaked air from the overnight drizzle. He could also smell the physical authenticity of the castle’s building structure. Rock, stone, wood…the visual sight had truly reminded the young man of castles he had seen in various movies and television shows which showcased some story which took place in the middle ages. 

Stephen looked toward the distant sea, spying the landmark he needed to go to for the orientation. He jaunted to the “lighthouse,” reappearing and facing the beach below. Stephen took a prolonged view of the structure that overlooked the sea below. While not actually a lighthouse, the building had given off the protective and vigilant environment which one could typically associate with a real lighthouse. 

“Hello Stephen.”

The young man turned toward the building where the soft, but direct voice had come from and smiled.

“Hi Autumn. And I thought I was early, how long have you been here?” 

“I arrived just before sunrise,” the ATP said.

“Blimey, you do get up early, don’t you?” Stephen asked.

“All my life,” Autumn replied.

“I’ll get ahold of TIM, see how our neopaths are doing,” Stephen said, eager to get the day’s activities started.

He noticed Autumn’s brow wrinkle a bit as he telepathically called out to TIM.

[TIM, how are our neopaths doing? They almost ready?]

|They are coming along, Stephen|

TIM responded.

[Okay, TIM. Good to know. Still, tell them to shake a leg. They have a lot of training to accomplish today]

Stephen said.

|I have already reminded them of their day’s activities with you and Autumn|

TIM reminded Stephen.

[Thank you, TIM]

“TIM is quite proper,” Autumn remarked to Stephen.

Stephen smiled, “He can be. Did you not have biotronic computers in your time?”

“For a short while, we did have technology which was similar to your TIM,” Autumn replied.

Stephen smiled, nodding his head in acknowledgment.

“I’m actually looking forward to this scavenger hunt, thank you for your suggestions on making it more all-inclusive regarding the usage of their special powers. I remember when I got training from John, Kenny, and Carol. We mostly just stayed about in London while I figured out how to use my special powers properly. It’s one of the reasons why I wanted a more countrywide utilization and assessment of their abilities. Your idea of inserting a scavenger hunt on a more international basis was a good idea. They’ll need to get used to specifying jaunting procedures with TIM eventually, and working with their jaunting bands.”

“Indeed,” Autumn replied. “TIM and Staarla have made a rather remarkable team, when they’re not arguing.” 

“They remind me of a married couple at times,” Stephen chuckled at the thought.

“Yes, indeed,” Autumn replied simply.

“I’ve noticed that Staarla does tend to be very outspoken when she talks about how her technology is more advanced then TIM’s is. But I have to admit, their combined knowledge allowed us to have these updated jaunting bands which can do much more than assist us in our teleportation. Still, I do miss the old jaunting belts,” Stephen said with a slight sense of nostalgia.

“And they can only be operated by telepaths so we won’t have to worry about them being used erroneously if they fall into the wrong hands,” Autumn reminded him.

“So, you’re feeling comfortable with our destinations, then?” Stephen asked.

“I am,” Autumn said simply as she looked toward the ocean appreciatively.

Stephen nodded as he continued to regard the former village princess visually for a bit. He had heard a few things about Autumn since she had arrived with Carol, Kenny and the others three months ago. It wasn’t until this past month that Autumn had finally begun to reveal herself socially after her self-imposed mourning period she was culturally expected to do. With the absence of John, and many of the Tomorrow People supporting the grieving TP due to the untimely death of his mother the prior month, Stephen had taken it upon himself to help Autumn acclimate with the various nuances of modern Earth society and culture. It surprised him how quickly she was able to figure out those complexities. He suspected the reason he underestimated her was due to her peculiar, tentative grasp of the English language when she had first arrived and wearing attire which reminded him of what the American Indians had worn back pre-twentieth century. While Stephen was certain he wouldn’t be hearing the twisting of words too often, now that her English was noticeably and confidently stronger, on occasion he would catch her replacing one word with a similar sounding word, usually when she was frustrated, which also wasn’t often. Her attire had been steadily becoming more modernized also, but he did notice that Autumn had tended to wear solid, earthly colors; her brief flirtation with Scottish clothing, and fashion usually worn by celebrities and musicians had gone by the wayside. He was convinced that within another month, no one would be able to realize that she had come from a civilization from Earth’s past.

It was at that moment, Stephen turned his thoughts again to the group who were currently eating at the castle. It wasn’t until the past few weeks when TIM was finally installed in the Havenshire Castle basement and various individuals began staying at the residence that Stephen was able to get to know the newest Tomorrow People, or neopaths as he had come to call them of late. A few, like Dana and Hans, he had either known for years or had gotten to know fairly well recently. Maeve and Muirne he hadn’t associated much with, but it had been surprisingly easy to have conversations with the Irish twins, prompting him to believe they would come along within the healthy parameters of their special powers. The fact that they had broken out three months prior probably had helped with their already familiar acclimation of their special powers and more pleasant attitude. He was also curious as to the extent of their abilities when used in synchronized fashion. He had known for a few years that twins could usually increase their telepathic levels when in close physical proximity of each other. He had seen this with his friends, Tia and Terra. Alexio was a person whom he couldn’t seem to get a handle on as of yet. The young boy always seemed sullen and moody, and being at the castle for the past few weeks hadn’t helped the young teen any. The couple of times Stephen had talked with Alexio, the young boy’s argumentative attitude had reminded him of Mike’s when the drummer first became a Tomorrow Person. 

“I am confident the day’s activities will help with increasing your confidence of your emerging leadership abilities, Stephen.”

Autumn’s voice had surprised him out of his inner thoughts. He turned his head and cautiously acknowledged her comment, somewhat taken off guard by the former princess’s directness. It was something else he had noticed about her, which sometimes made him a bit uncomfortable, especially if it was in regards to his developing leadership skills.

“Indeed, it will help with mine also,” Autumn added.

Stephen continued to regard her as she turned and walked purposely toward the cliff, taking in the view. He wondered what that last comment was about. From the information he had gotten from Carol, Warren, Kenny, and Kim, this woman had displayed enough leadership abilities to keep them all from getting killed during their time in Earth’s past. He filed her comment away for another day as he began to get slightly impatient for his neopaths to appear at the lighthouse. From the few times he had seen those five young individuals together, it always seemed like they were very quiet around each other, still figuring the other out.

Well, that won’t last long, this training will take care of that attitude, Stephen thought as he took another glance at the ocean ahead.

***

The discussion around the breakfast table was very different of what Stephen had been thinking was taking place with his self-named neopaths. 

“I’m just saying, I want to go to America and see the Star Wars movie. Mein Gott, it’s being re-released again,” Hans muffled out between bites of scrambled egg, his German accent becoming thicker with excitement.

“I wouldn’t mind seeing it again either. Maeve and I saw it at least five times and we still can’t get enough of it, and since we can jaunt, I don’t see why we couldn’t,” Muirne said.

“I’m not even sure we’re going to America…are we?” Maeve asked her sister as she had managed to stab away the last of a remaining sausage from her Irish twin sibling.

“Who cares? I want to know if we’re always going to be constantly having this loud voice in our head from this…TIM, always telling us what to do,” Alexio said in very irritated tone.

Dana regarded her Argentinean friend, empathically feeling his frustration and impatience at the upcoming activities they were about to engage in. “From what my older sisters, Carol and Jennifer say, yes. Better get used to it.”

Alexio gave his recent-made friend from England a scowl, visually letting her know he wasn’t impressed with her answer, arms crossed.

“Well, time to get on it then,” Hans chimed in. “Where are we supposed to meet Stephen and Autumn?”

“We’re to meet them at the ‘lighthouse’,” Muirne said.

Alexio gave the Irish teen a perplexed look. “Where is there a lighthouse here?”

Maeve responded to Alexio’s question as she stood up to put her dish in the sink. “It’s near the edge of the cliff overlooking the ocean. It’s not an actual lighthouse, but I’ve heard a few people give it that name. I guess the designation has stuck.”

Maeve took in the kitchen environment; the huge wooden table they all had been sitting at situated in the middle of the room, wood cabinets, plenty of pantry space. They had only been at Havenshire Castle for a few weeks and already she had been figuring out how to utilize this kitchen to her own satisfaction. Her goal of becoming a chef operating her own renowned restaurant was still at the top of her list of life career choices. Maeve was certain she could get plenty of practice in this kitchen. Moreover, even having this new responsibility of being humanity’s next stage in human evolution would not keep her from the original plan of hers she had since she was old enough to stay steady on a stool to help cook.

“You seem to be really falling in love with this place,” Muirne observed her sister’s familiar, dreamlike stare into space.

“You don’t need to be a telepath to know this, sister-of-mine,” Maeve replied with a smile.

“Come on, let’s go!” Hans directed to the twins as he took to the hallway Alexio and Dana had just walked down in.

“Well, he’s a live one,” Maeve remarked as she began to make her way down the hall.

Muirne followed behind her sister, “Yes, but he is cute.”

“You would know,” Maeve responded teasingly back to her sister.

The redheaded Irish twins proceeded outside to where the others had been waiting. They noticed the other three were distracted with something and followed their gaze to where two figures were walking in the distance on the gravel road leading upwards to the castle entrance. 

“Isn’t that John and his father?” Maeve asked.

“It is,” Dana replied confidently.

“That’s right, you’ve known him since you were a wee little one,” Maeve said.

Dana regarded the teenager with exasperation. Maeve may only have been a scant few years older than she was, but that didn’t mean she was going to allow her to associate herself as a ‘wee little one.’ 

“Only through my older sisters’ eyes, ginger girl,” Dana said.

“You must be proud of your sisters. Being such prominent telepaths, and now you’re following in their footsteps,” Maeve continued, ignoring the reference to her hair.

Dana grasped the older teen’s arm to stop her in her tracks. “Just because I’m the youngest, doesn’t mean I’ll be following their lead. I have my own paths to take.”

The whole group came to a stop, observing the exchange between the two girls. Maeve had a bit of a distressed look on her face, but before she could respond, her twin sister quickly took matters into her own hands, coming up to Dana and standing close enough to be an imposing physical presence by a good few inches.

“Aye, but that don’t mean you manhandle my sister in that way. Youngest or no, I’ll put you into your place if you don’t let go of her,” Murine said warningly.

Dana immediately released her hold of Maeve, focusing a direct stare at Muirne. “I wasn’t going to hurt her; I wasn’t even holding her arm hard at all. However, since I have everyone’s attention, I will not be dictated to with words of legacy and ‘following in their footsteps.’ I assume I’m understood. Maeve, I apologize for my physical reaction to you. Now, let’s get going. We don’t want to keep ‘wannabe John’ waiting.”

The four watched with fascination as the young thirteen-year-old walked past them toward the direction of the lighthouse, Maeve and Muirne in particular watched with a growing fascination. 

“’…wannabe John…'now what’s that all about?” Muirne asked slowly.

“You didn’t have to handle her so intensely, sister-of-mine,” Maeve said.

“I’m surprised you handled her so…softly,” Muirne countered.

An audible, faraway sound prompted the four remaining telepaths to look back at John and his father, whom the young man was helping after the older parent had almost tripped over. The four young telepaths continued to regard the two men in the distance, various sympathetic feelings covered their thoughts for both their still mysterious leader of the Tomorrow People and their fellow youngest telepath whom they were still attempting to get to know.

“Dana knows him better than we do. I’m sure she has her reasons. Let’s get this over with,” Alexio said as glanced back at John in the distance, certain the two men were doing well. “Still, that is too bad about his mother,” Alexio quietly added. 

He walked in Dana’s direction with a quickened pace, hoping to catch up with her. Maeve followed, still perturbed of what just happened.

“Yes. It’s a lousy club to be in,” Muirne replied, still holding her ground.

“Agreed,” Hans said.

Muirne regarded the German teen, eyebrows up with slight surprise. “You also?”

Hans nodded, “A few years back.”

The two stared at each other for a second longer than was necessary, abruptly coming out of their individual thoughts.

“Let’s get going. I’m thinking we should teleport to the lighthouse. Let’s tell the others,” Hans said.

Muirne nodded and quick paced along with him to catch up with the rest of the group.

***

“Right, the object of this get together is for you all to become comfortable with your special powers, our history, as well as getting to know each other during these utilizations. This scavenger hunt will prompt you to use your jaunting skills, interact with TIM, working with your physical jaunting bands, telepathic tracking or telepathic triangulation as it’s sometimes called, token object reading, and telekinesis. Autumn has placed five items throughout locations that I’m sure many of you will find familiar. We are expecting you all to utilize teamwork. As I’m sure Dana knows from her sisters; teamwork is a necessary component to accomplish our challenging and sometimes dangerous goals,” Stephen explained. 

“Scavenger hunt?” Alexio let out a quiet exasperated sigh. These abilities he had and he was being forced to play some children’s game?

“Problems, Alexio?” Stephen focused on the young teenager.

“Not yet,” Alexio replied with eyes that were obviously challenging Stephen.

“Good. I didn’t think so. I’ll yield the floor to Autumn Harvest Moon, then.”

Stephen tried not to dwell too much on Alexio’s attitude. He had a quick talk with Dr. Kartika Wilson within the past week about what to expect from the neopaths. Her reply about the various emotional responses to come out from so large a group of kids and their newfound abilities had prepared him to expect the best and worst of such responses. It was of no surprise that Dana also had a negative reaction to his singling her out regarding teamwork and his apparent example of the legacy she was expected to uphold. He briefly wondered if he had taken that aspect too far just because he knew her family personally. He gave Autumn her space as she began to speak.

“I will go ahead to each of these locations, as determined in the envelope you will receive. Each note is specifically addressed to the person who will be in charge of this aspect of your quest. Your task will be twofold; find me, and then find the object which will be within the immediately vicinity of my location,” Autumn said. 

Stephen came forward. “While there isn’t a time limit, I expect this activity to be finished by the end of the day. This isn’t just a test of how well all of you use your special powers, but a way to get to know each other. I will quietly be observing from a distance throughout the day for any questions or discussions. Dana, come here please.”

Dana stood fast for a moment more than necessary, before realizing that Stephen had an envelope in his hand, waiting for her acceptance. She made a purposeful stoic face as she retrieved it.

“Well then. The game…as many of you would exclaim…is ahand and atfoot,” Autumn said as she jaunted from their immediate area.

Stephen noticed confused looks on each of their faces and couldn’t help but have a smile tug at a corner of his mouth.

“You’ll have to forgive Autumn. Sometimes she’ll confuse words such as ‘afoot’ and ‘at hand.’ Believe me when I say she’s come a long way in regards to our oft times confusing English language and slang. Both of us will be nearby. Good luck.”

Stephen touched his jaunting band and disappeared.

The five young telepaths stood around, uncertainty of what they were supposed to do plain on their features and unsure physical movement.

“So, where we need to go is in the envelope,” Hans motioned to the item in Dana’s hand.

Dana held the envelope close to her face for a second, as if looking through it would somehow tell her their destination. She glanced at the others briefly before finally tearing through it, careful to not inadvertently damage the content within. She retrieved a small piece of paper, unfolded it, and silently read it. 

“While you could stay within your origins above as you recognized Monty Python, history started underground and slowly developed…”

“How…peculiar,” Maeve commented.

“Not much there to go on. I have heard of Monty Python, but this underground history….I’m not understanding the connection,” Hans said.

“Not surprising. Stephen explained the clues would be specifically tailored for the person in charge,” Alexio said to Dana.

“He never said that, Autumn did,” Muirne said getting annoyed at Alexio’s aggressive tone.

Alexio sounded exasperated, “He didn’t have to. Start thinking. He gave the envelope to Dana. He also stated that each of us would have to assume a leadership position at least once through this scavenger hunt.”

Muirne had a retort she was ready to throw back at the Argentinean boy but Maeve touched her arm, “Not the time, sister-of-mine.”

[He’s always going out of his way to be jerky]

Muirne pathed.

[I know, I know. But let’s not get into it now. We have work to do. I can take care of myself, and if you start picking fights with everyone in our group, we’ll never get anything done]

Maeve pathed back.

[Fine]

Muirne said, unconvinced.

One of the first things the Irish twins were able to figure out during their short four months since acquiring their special powers, was that they could telepathically talk to each other without other telepaths hearing them, provided that they had skin to skin contact. Their early training with the ATPs, Tia and Terra, who were themselves identical twins, had mentioned this trick could be possible with them also. It was one of the first things the two of them had worked on once they were able to be in the same physical vicinity again without the worry of inadvertently telepathically combining their personality into one entity, due to their obvious similar physiology, neuron patterns, and same time breakouts.

“Do you always have to be so mean?” Hans asked.

“I’m not here to be nice. I’m here to learn as much as I can about these abilities so I can take these talents back to my country,” Alexio replied, somewhat incredulous that Hans would ask this type of question. “I don’t expect you Westerners to understand, especially ones who live in a superhero fantasy world.”

“I’m sure we will, but you’ll have to give us a chance and time to get to your level of knowledge. Not all of us are well-versed in current political world activities as you’ve been forced to be,” Hans replied patiently.

Alexio was about to come up with another retort but stopped short as he purposely, and maybe for the first time, visually measured Hans up. Alexio had a habit of knowing when one was leading him on, and surprisingly in this instance, he realized that Hans was being very honest with him. Not in a condescending or patronizing way, but in an actual listening way. It was something Alexio had not been too used to, only experiencing this with his mother and grandfather, who always had his best interests at hand. He grunted at Hans, an indicator that he would let this specific subject matter go, for now.

“I say we jaunt….how weird is it using that word and knowing I can do it now? I sound just like my sisters. Right, let’s jaunt to my house and figure the rest of this out. The theory that Stephen gave this riddle to me personally because it pertains to my past is something we’ll take his word for,” Dana said, unexpectedly surprised that she smiled at the prospect of doing an activity that beforehand, only her older sisters could do.

[TIM. This is Dana. Can you program our jaunting bands to my parent’s home in Hampstead, please?]

The biotronic computer immediately came with a reply.

[Of course, Dana. Coordinates are now set]

Dana gathered everyone in by eye. “Okay everyone. Let’s get to it.”

They each put their hand on their jaunting bands and slowly disappeared from sight. 

***

Hampstead, England

Dana, Alexio, Maeve, Muirne, and Hans appeared in what looked to be a spacious living room. After a moment to catch their breath, as jaunting was still relatively new to the majority of them, they settled in, taking available seats on the furniture that Dana bade them to. 

“Wow, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that. So cool, now I know how Nightcrawler feels,” Hans exclaimed.

Dana gave Hans a look of annoyance as she walked into her family’s kitchen. She heard Muirne ask what he had meant by that name as Alexio followed after her.

“You okay?” Alexio asked with some concern in his voice.

Dana reached in the cupboard and retrieved a glass, pointing to another as she looked at her friend, prompting him to nod his head.

“Sure. My house. I think better in the kitchen. Always have. Still, I would rather be out taking photographs.”

As Dana poured some tap water into the glasses, she telepathically asked the others if they wanted some water. Getting a positive response from the remaining three, she proceeded to get more glasses. Alexio stopped her.

“I recall some of them. You got some really good shots of my city when you were there. Maybe you should bring your camera with you. In the meantime, why don’t you look over the riddle while I get the water,” Alexio offered.

“Sure, thank you,” Dana gratefully said, considering his suggestion about her camera.

Alexio waited until Dana had filled the glasses with water before using his telekinesis to levitate them all. Dana half-pleaded with Alexio to not drop the glasses, as they were her mother’s favorite for when she had company. He assured her he wouldn’t and slowly eased them and himself into the living room where the others were.

The foursome were in the living room sitting in silence and quenching their thirst until Maeve spoke up.

“Well, if we’re to get to know each other, I suppose I’ll start. I like to watch documentaries of different countries I want to travel to someday and I’m going to become a world-renowned chef by my mid-twenties.”

“I should think since we can teleport….sorry, jaunt anywhere in the world, you’ll be able to bring about that first part of your plan,” Alexio said.

“This is true,” Maeve said, somewhat surprised at the casual and non-cynical tone Alexio’s response had been. Quite the difference, as it seemed between the three of them, involving her sister, they had been grating on each other’s nerves since they had come to stay at Havenshire for the past few weeks. 

Alexio, Muirne, and Hans were quiet, as if contemplating what they should say, if anything. 

Again, Alexio surprised everyone with his calm and non-aggravated response. “After I help free Argentina, I’m going to school to make sure the state of affairs going on in my country never happen again.”

“A politician then?” Muirne said, her attention more focused after hearing the temperamental Argentinian teen’s personal future goal.

“We shouldn’t have to live in fear of our own government,” Alexio stated clearly.

“I agree,” Muirne directly stated.

The two continued their unrehearsed staring contest, but it wasn’t the usual cynical or antagonistic stares they had grown accustomed toward each other of the past few weeks. They had been looks of unanticipated understanding. At that moment, the two telepaths felt that they had more in common then was let on, but for now, they just faintly acknowledged their rare, silent agreement.

Maeve caught on to this but was interrupted with Hans’s movement toward the television, looking at what she determined was a recording device.

“What are you doing Hans?”

The German teen flinched as if he got caught with his hand in a cookie jar. He turned around to see Dana standing in the doorway which connected the kitchen with the living room. He began fumbling for words as Dana walked up to him. He wanted a distraction.

“What’s that you have there?” Hans asked pointing to her side.

“Just my old camera. I may be a Tomorrow Person but I still need to develop my photography skills, even if it’s with my older model. So again, what are you doing?” Dana asked.

“Um…I was just looking at this….thing on the tv. I didn’t break it,” Hans stammered out, causing Muirne to snicker under her hand.

“No, it’s okay. You’re not in trouble. That’s something my father bought this past spring,” Dana said as she pointed to the words on the grey-colored device. “The Sony SL-C7 Betamax video cassette recorder. Just came out this year. We record some of our shows we enjoy, like Monty Python, Man about the House and The Muppet Show.”

“Really? The Muppet Show?” Alexio had burst out his surprise so intently, his face immediately showing embarrassment accompanied with a developing redness. 

“That’s cool. Can we watch it? I’ve never seen a show recorded from a home before,” Muirne said.

Dana looked at the group, whose attention was now fully focused on her response and a television show, instead of figuring out the riddle of this telepathic scavenger hunt. The reaction perplexed her causing her to reply tersely.

“No, we will not. We have work to do.” 

“Stephen did say we need to get to know each other, it’s not just about finding telepaths and objects,” Maeve said.

Dana held Maeve’s gaze for a bit, determining in her own head what the purpose of watching a children’s show could do for them. However, she quickly realized that Maeve was correct in recalling Stephen’s purpose of today’s training. And maybe it would be a good way to figure out things between them as well as help their thought processes in figuring out the riddle.

Dana turned on the television and VCR. Pressing a few buttons and changing the channel, she got the tape to land exactly at the beginning of The Muppet Show. For the next thirty minutes, the group of five watched the Muppets do a parody of the Robin Hood legend with Lynn Redgrave playing Maid Marian and Fozzie attempting to play Little John, with obviously hilarious results. The rising festive atmosphere was a welcome change from the tense and aggravated attitudes from the earlier morning. After the show ended, Dana actually felt refreshed and in a better frame of mind. She proceeded to get everyone’s attention.

“Right then, how about we set the jaunting bands to find a telepath? If she’s in London, we should be able to find her,” Dana said, referring to Autumn.

“That’s a good idea actually,” Hans said, vocally confirming everyone else’s agreement to the suggestion.

The time used to program the new generation jaunting bands had only taken a few minutes. Dana remembered her sister, Carol, telling her how she, John, and Kenny had triangulated young Stephen’s position when he had first broken out. What she would suggest was essentially the same thing for finding Autumn.

“Okay. We’ll each take a part of the city. Alexio and Hans, I want you two to go to famous landmarks such as Big Ben and London Bridge. Pictures have been taken many times for you to figure out where you can appear without being seen. Maeve and Muirne, I believe you two mentioned that you visited London a few times in your youth, so I’m assuming you can jaunt to a place you’re familiar with. Once we arrive at our designated places, we’ll utilize the bands to find Autumn. Questions?”

The four telepaths shook their heads and immediately proceeded to jaunt out the house. Dana took one last look around before she too, placed her hand on the jaunting band and disappeared. She reappeared in a section of Hyde Park that was surrounded by trees. Dana activated the program that would prompt the jaunting band to find certain telepathic broadcasts. 

[This is Alexio. My jaunting band has found something. I’m across the street from Big Ben facing the sun]

[Right. Alexio, have your jaunting band emit a frequency so we can all home in on your position]

Dana pathed.

Alexio confirmed he had and soon, four telepaths jaunted to where he was. Dana quickly commanded the others to set their bands on the prior programs they had been using. Again, the jaunting band gave out a slight sound, becoming more audible and blinking more rapidly when pointed in a specific direction. Looking around to make sure no one saw them, they took action and jaunted to the vicinity of where the jaunting band would take them.

All five reappeared in what seemed to be an alley and immediately noticed a familiar person in front of them, replacing their expectant smiles with looks of developing confusion.

“Hello,” Stephen said pleasantly.

Dana immediately had a confused look on her face. “Wait…I don’t understand. Why are you here?”

“I should be asking you the same question. However, I’m quite pleased that all of you were able to utilize the new technology to locate me. I know Andrew and Staarla were wondering if that programming inside the jaunting bands would work,” Stephen said.

“No, we must’ve done it wrong. We only found you. Shouldn’t we also have found Autumn?” Maeve asked.

Dana nodded her head knowingly and slightly annoyed. “We could’ve, if we had programmed them to find an Advanced Telepath. Am I right Stephen?”

“That is true. But we learn by doing,” Stephen said with a slight grin on his face.

“Well, if that was the case, what’s your excuse with Jennifer, then?” Dana retorted with direct candor.

The remark caught everyone off-guard, including Stephen, prompting a noticeable silence within their immediate vicinity.

“Yes, well. I will say you’re on the right track with your jaunting bands. I will see you all there in a few,” Stephen said as he regarded Dana with a somewhat hurt reaction. 

Dana gave Stephen a sour look as he disappeared from view.

“Not sure what’s going on with you two, but that seemed a bit…harsh,” Muirne commented.

“What do you have against Stephen, Dana?” Hans asked.

“Well, yes. Of course, we all like Stephen Jameson, we all love Stephen Jameson. Well, none of you know him like I do and I’ve found him to be quite the annoyance in my life. Now, disregard what just happened and stay focused on the task at hand. Who remembers how to program the bands for ATP telepathic frequencies?” Dana coldly demanded.

“I got it,” Alexio said quickly.

While Dana waited for everyone to program the parameters of the search, she continued to regard the riddle, an idea slowly dawning on her.

“Okay, we’re ready,” Alexio said.

The five telepaths jaunted and reappeared into a dirty and somewhat dilapidated area of the city subway system. Everyone looked around, taking in the murky and rundown looking area of London’s subway system. Everyone, except Dana, who immediately began the program to switch on the jaunting band’s tracking system.

“Just a minute,” Dana said as she stopped her initiation of the program, recognition of the area slowly coming to her. She spoke out loud for the benefit of the group, “This is part of our public transit called The Underground. We’re in a disused section. I know where Autumn is, we won’t need our bands. We’ll walk from here.” 

Alexio felt like he was able to catch on the more intimate feelings he was receiving from Dana, and they were quite annoyed. He kept catching on to those strong emotions from her since their few meetings with Stephen, suspecting that what he said to her was the cause of the intensity of that specific emotion coming from her. He also felt that Dana had some mixed issues with the Irish twins, at times she would dismiss them and then there would be times she seemed quite cordial with them. Still, what she felt was completely understandable, as he, himself, seemed to have only tolerated the twins at best.

Dana came up to a familiar flight of descending stairs and couldn’t help but smirk and shake her head knowingly. She looked back to see the waiting anticipation of her group.

“Well, here we are. Just a warning, you might want to prepare for a history lesson.”

“Feels…familiar,” Hans quietly said.

The group of five cautiously made their way down the steps and into a surprisingly well-lit room. It was immediately obvious that it was unexpectedly cleaner than the immediate outside area. The group noticed Autumn and Stephen on the other side of the room, quietly observing them.

“Well, I should’ve known, Stephen. The first Lab,” Dana stated.

“You figured it out quicker than I expected,” Stephen said.

“Well, just because I may have issues about being part of a ‘living legacy’ as you called it earlier, doesn’t mean I can’t see through your guise. I’ll never know what my sister sees in you,” Dana said with a strong irritation in her voice.

“Yes, well, I figured this would be a good way to start our scavenger hunt. And for Autumn too, as she’s never been here before either,” Stephen replied as he slowly walked about the room.

Stephen gave Autumn a smile before looking upon the young teens. He noticed Alexio in particular seemed to have an intense focus on the area. 

“You…lived here?” Alexio asked hesitantly.

“No, but we did use this part of the Underground to establish our first….headquarters for the Tomorrow People. However, we called it The Lab. Take a seat and I’ll go through some of our history,” Stephen said.

For the next thirty minutes, Stephen told the newest Tomorrow People of how their kind had been able to develop on Earth. From their humble beginnings with just John, Carol, and Kenny and how they acquired TIM after their first meeting with an alien race called the Sophostrians. He explained how he had first encountered the Tomorrow People. He explained the many adventures and conflicts they had with aliens, governments, and other telepaths from other planets. He told them of his last confrontation with a viopath named Garth and how he was forced to go to the medical planet Medcann 2 to purge his system from a dangerous virus Garth had given him and Tyso. 

“Sounds like being a Tomorrow Person is dangerous,” Maeve replied.

Stephen nodded, “We do have times when things will take a serious turn. But we also have fun and enjoy ourselves also, it’s not all work.” 

Dana abruptly excused herself and went towards the spiral stairs, going up the steps quickly and purposely. Stephen and Autumn gave each other a slight knowing glance at Dana’s actions.

An irritated look crossed Maeve’s face, “Oh what did I say wrong now?”

“Everyone has a different way of responding to their new special powers, child,” Autumn replied calmly.

Stephen saw the slightly annoyed look Maeve gave Autumn at being called child. He couldn’t help but inwardly chuckle at the response.

“As you may have noticed, Dana has always had some trouble accepting her older sisters’ status since they brokeout. She’ll figure her place in her family, and ours,” Stephen reassured the others, even as he visually sensed the doubtfulness coming from Alexio.

“Does that mean my brother is going to be a Tomorrow Person?” Hans asked hesitantly.

Stephen shook his head. “Not necessarily. Tyso, Mike, and Kenny have younger siblings but they haven’t brokeout. But it should be known that every child has the potential to become a Tomorrow Person.”

“Indeed,” Autumn agreed with the older teen.

“So everyone develops when they’re in their teens?” Hans asked.

Stephen nodded, “Mostly. However, Kenny broke out when he was eleven; both Elizabeth and Tricia were…late bloomers. Elizabeth didn’t breakout until she was nearly twenty and Tricia was well into her 20’s when she finally developed her special powers. When you get the chance, you should talk to Dr. Kartika Wilson, Kenny’s mother. She’s a physician and knows a great deal about why some telepaths don’t breakout until much later. In fact, you’ll all have a chance to talk with her in the next week.”

“Why is that?” Alexio asked. 

“Just part of the process. With the potential of more Tomorrow People breaking out, we’ll need individuals who can help the neopath process what they’ve become. It’s not like it was before with only one telepath at a time now. Alexio, you and the others are the first ones to breakout within months of each other; and going by the past twelve months, this also includes Hsui-Tai and Andrew. That’s seven telepaths, the most we’ve ever had develop within a year’s time,” Stephen explained.

Stephen observed Alexio closely, as it seemed his explanation managed to connect with the temperamental teen on some level.

“Is that why Elizabeth is working on getting her graduate degree in social work?” Maeve asked.

“It is, Maeve. It was a decision which had been on her mind for some time,” Stephen said.

“I’m going to see how Dana is doing,” Autumn said as she got to her feet and walked towards the spiral staircase.

Stephen watched as the group was momentarily distracted by the usually quiet woman. Thinking fast, he got their attention again by telling them the bizarre story about how John, Elizabeth, Tyso, and himself had to save the world from a spacecraft called The Ship and it’s three inhabitants named The Momma, Elmer, and Emily.

Autumn ascended the spiral staircase and looked down the short hallway. The residual telepathic memories she was able to receive from the area were ones of emotional variety. She gathered that at one time, this was a very active place.

“Dana.”

Autumn continued her walk towards a room which formerly housed various Lab equipment and the first-generation AE suits. She looked in to find Dana sitting cross-legged on the floor, holding a small object in her hands. A heartfelt smile emerged on her face as she took in the visual. Dana finally looked up at her, confusion etched on her face.

“It feels like this….gem is speaking to me. It’s the same one that’s been in my room, isn’t it?” Dana asked.

Autumn nodded to her question. “This is what I call, the Teepuh Crystal. It comes from my planet of origin, and you are not the first person to confuse their visuals with that of an ordinary gem.”

Dana watched as the woman took a seat on the floor, sitting cross-legged on the other side of the small room, quietly observing her. 

“What does it do?” Dana tentatively asked.

“The Teepuh Crystal was used in my culture to retain the telepathic essence of an individual; it records that person’s uniqueness, memories, thoughts, and emotions. The gem becomes a permanent fixture once the individual makes a conscious effort to incorporate their essence into the gem, making it theirs; basically sending a telepathic thought or image. Once this happens, the crystal is completely yours, never taking in any other telepathic essence except for its owner, unless the owner permits it.”

“What if I do not want to?” Dana asked.

“That is up to you. You’re not being forced to accept this crystal, only to consider preserving what you have learned through your lifelong development as a telepath,” Autumn said. “However, everything that you learned and experienced as a telepath most likely will be lost forever. My society valued knowledge and the individual; we learned what we could from the individual’s memories. Within these crystals, the individual could bring up memories of past events, to review or learn from. Again, the choice will be yours. I have no say in the matter, all I can do is explain their purpose.”

Dana wasn’t sure if it was because she could telepathically sense emotions more clearly, or just her usual empathic nature she had all her life, but she could sense there was more to Autumn’s explanation then she let on. A certain sadness seemed to come from the young woman, and while she had only gotten to know this Autumn through her sister Carol’s stories and locally for just a little while, Dana decided to go with her gut on this next question.

“They were used to remember a person when they died, weren’t they?”

Autumn nodded, “The crystals are used in the Visual Last Remembrance Rites. Your sister, Carol, came to be involved in one, four of your moons ago. Personal gems are used to remember the person; in the absence of one’s personal crystals, which we had the misfortune of not having; we can utilize a crystal to preserve the various telepathic memories from others of that specific individual. And while it is usually our version of that person, the majority of the time, that telepath’s character usually does come out; and sometimes so intensely, one can actually touch that person for a limited amount of time.”

A fleeting memory of Carol’s version of her story came about in Dana’s head. “Like Kenny was able to do with….Ariel.”

A warm smile to match Autumn’s emotions came to the fore which Dana was able to experience.

“Yes. Again, it is your choice. I have felt very appreciative that I was able to contribute to our family ceremony, but no matter how strong our memories of a loved will be, it will still only be from one’s point of view of that person. There will always be secrets that one will not want to share. The crystal will take that into account. Telepaths are never alone and it is normal to want to have privacy. Legacies are left behind through the crystal’s usage. No one can rewrite what you put in there, or what people will remember about you. These crystals will always recognize your unique essence….and soul.”

Dana thought about Autumn’s words as the older woman proceeded to get to her feet and step outside the room. Surprisingly and quite reluctantly, the words Autumn had spoken to her did seem to have an effect. 

“We’ll be leaving soon,” Autumn reminded her as she left an envelope on the floor for her to retrieve.

I wonder if Carol has one of these crystals, Dana wondered.

Thoughts of her oldest sister brought the thirteen-year-old back to her own worries and annoyances of a presumed ‘legacy’, which she felt Stephen had the gall to proclaim. She was not a legacy just because all her sisters were telepaths. Why was she expected to tread the straight and narrow of Tomorrow People duties and responsibilities just because the older Hathaway sisters had? Dana chided herself for allowing herself to have become taken in by his remark. Dana regarded the Teepuh Crystal she continued to hold in her hands. Absently heeding Autumn’s last words and unsure of what to do with it, she quickly stuffed the object in her pants pocket, picked up the envelope and hurriedly left the former AE storage room.

As Dana came down the spiral staircase, she observed everyone was already to their feet, watching her expectantly.

“Why all the eyes?” Dana asked.

“You have the name of the next destination,” Alexio replied.

Dana blinked her eyes in surprise as she had realized she had already forgotten the envelope in her back pocket. Quickly retrieving the item, she quickly read the name on the envelope before finally giving it to Hans.

“Has your name on it, you’re up,” Dana said.

“I’ll see all of you at your next destination,” Autumn said as she jaunted out of their view.

All eyes now turned toward Hans, who was busy reading the note he had recovered from inside the envelope. Realizing he had been keeping its contents to himself, he cleared his throat and proceeded to read the words verbally.

“’In the beginning, a short time with one path before owning a path of one’s own; hay, taking the high road will lead to the needle in the stack, mein Gott.’”

Blank stares were evident on their faces as they immediately tried to make sense of the quote.

“Well, we obviously will be headed to Germany,” Alexio remarked.

“We’re going to my family’s place in Toppeil, as obviously we’ll be looking for Autumn in my town,” Hans said.

“Sounds right. We went to Dana’s home the first time,” Alexio added.

“I only said we should go to my parents’ home because I wanted to get away from the castle, also, it was quite obvious Stephen wrote it. He knows I’ve always been able to think better when I’m in the kitchen; probably got that information from one of my sisters, as he also knew about my love for Monty Python. This riddle here for Hans….sounds quite vague. To be honest, this could be anywhere in Germany,” Dana replied. 

“While it’s a strong theory that she could be in Toppeil somewhere, Hans has said he’s been to many other parts of Germany. Remember, Stephen specifically said that these objects will be in ‘locations that I’m sure many of you will find familiar.’ Autumn could be anywhere in Germany,” Maeve added as she nodded to Stephen.

Muirne had been observing Hans and noticed him taking in everything about the discussion. It looked like he was truly enjoying the unexpected teamwork that was happening at this time as they were trying to figure out where Autumn’s location could be. 

“Well, what do you think Hans?” Muirne asked expectantly of him.

Hans was smiling, like he was impressed with what had been discussed between the four so far.

“I want to say that everyone’s theories have been quite well thought out. So, here is my reasoning on why we should go to Toppeil. Autumn doesn’t know any of us too well. What information she has gotten about us, was most likely from Stephen, Tyso, Kenny, Carol, and Jennifer; basically, the telepaths who found all of us. Now, she also hasn’t had a chance to assimilate into the society or cultural norms of our modern 20th century; I mean, her life was ten thousand years in Earth’s past. It’s quite….logical, that Autumn will most likely only go to places which she considers safe, areas which other telepaths have gone to before, places which could be considered safe for us. I’m sure she knows where every one of us has originated from, so it’s only logical to assume that she will stay within those parameters of the scavenger hunt.”

There was an unexpected silence as the others were staring at Hans with various states of awe shown on their faces after the German teen’s breakdown of Autumn’s theoretical way of thinking.

“Well said,” Dana said respectfully.

“Makes sense,” Alexio replied simply.

“Logical, eh?” Muirne teased.

“Spock is one of my favorite characters,” Hans said somewhat sheepishly.

“Of course, he is,” Maeve said getting a slight elbow from her sister, eliciting a what for reaction from her sister.

“Looks like we’re agreed then,” Hans said as he tilted his head slightly upward.

[TIM, download the coordinates for the town of Toppeil into our jaunting bands]

Hans pathed.

|Manners, Hans|

TIM responded with his ever-calm paternal voice.

“Oh! Yes! Um….please, sir!” Hans replied somewhat panicky at the thought of having somehow insulted the biotronic computer.

Hans’s abrupt outburst brought a snort from Dana, who was reminded of the scene from the movie “Oliver!” wherein the title character was asking for more food from the indignant and quite fat, head of the workhouse.

|That is quite all right, Hans. As of now, everyone should have the coordinates needed|

TIM replied.

“Everyone ready?” Hans asked.

Getting affirmation from everyone via their hand placements on their jaunting bands, the five young telepaths disappeared from view, leaving Stephen behind.

Stephen had to admit he was quite impressed with how the five had been able to determine where to go for their next location. He hadn’t expected for them to utilize strong critical thinking skills so early in the game. Still, he had always suspected that when a person became a Tomorrow Person that their special powers allowed them to find more cerebral ways of solving problems.

Stephen took another moment to look at the empty interior. Memories of his first day ever in the Lab with John, Carol, and Kenny. They explained to him about the three T’s, his introduction to TIM whom he had been initially nervous and uneasy about meeting, asking John to talk to his parents about his developing abilities. His thoughts about John made him reflect on the status of the man. Having had his father wounded in the line of duty and his mother pass away within twenty-four hours of each other would be hard on anyone. He had rarely seen John this past month and it was mostly when he was checking on the progression of the third incarnation of The Lab or seeing him on the Havenshire grounds, helping his father recover from his injuries sustained in the line of duty. 

Stephen quickly got over his slight melancholy as he remembered how he was looking forward to seeing the new Lab later in the day. Andrew, Jennifer, TIM, Staarla, and Marhk were intent on putting the final additions to it within the next few days. Even Warren and Kim, who had assisted in much of the aesthetic building of the place, were kept in the dark. They had not allowed anyone to check in on them for the past week, confirming his own suspicions that the new Lab would have more than a passing familiarity to the original Lab. It could also be a place which would be more comfortable for them and other soon-to-develop telepaths, who would need a safe place to develop their newly acquired special powers. 

Realizing he was becoming more distracted, Stephen began to absently place his hands to where his jaunting belt used to be, quickly correcting himself and placed it on his left wrist, and jaunted.

***

Toppeil, Germany

When the five telepaths arrived on the outskirts of Toppeil, they were immediately awestruck by the lush green and roiling hills surrounding the small town. 

“This is as gorgeous as Ireland is. Look at all the patchwork of colors!” Muirne exclaimed.

Hans smiled at Muirne’s comment. “It is beautiful land.”

“Boy, is your sister hung up on him,” Dana whispered to Maeve.

“Maybe as much as you are with Stephen? You do seem to go out of your way to give him a hard time,” Maeve said.

“No, I don’t think so,” Dana retorted immediately as she thought about how the older Irish girl spoke to her. It was almost similar to when her sister Carol, or even Jennifer would utilize that familiar, sisterly mode. For a second, Dana was thinking that maybe that’s what Maeve was attempting to do, before disregarding it, moving away from her.

Maeve could only shrug her shoulders as she wiped a bit of sweat that had begun forming on her brow.

“It’s really hot out here, and it looks and smells like it just rained,” Maeve said as she scrunched her nose a bit, making out the various farm smells from around the vicinity, particularly cow.

“Feels like I’m right at home to me. Humidity is the norm in Buenos Aires. Is this your home Hans?” Alexio asked pointing towards the village down the hill.

“It is. Let’s take a page from Dana and jaunt to my father’s house. He’ll give us a quick snack while I figure out these clues,” Hans said.

Pointing to an area in town where they could appear without being seen, Hans prompted the others to jaunt. Afterwards, it only took a few minutes to walk down the cobblestone street to a small house made of brick. The street was quiet as Hans dug into his jeans for his keys. 

As the group waited, Maeve glanced around and noticed what looked to be a small apartment complex that could hold maybe a dozen units. Looking to her left was a small official looking one story building of about the same size as Hans’s home. Looking down the street were more homes and the narrow street took a sharp left going up a slight incline. Interestingly, she could make out a church, which was directly behind a tall wooden fence separating the property. She saw she wasn’t the only one who was somewhat enraptured by the quietness of the town, Dana had already taken out her camera and began taking a few shots of areas. She noticed the younger girl’s camera looked a lot like her fathers.

“What kind of camera is that?” Maeve asked.

Dana hadn’t missed a beat as she continued to capture specific shots. “It’s just a Canon Canonet 28 Rangefinder. It used to be my dad’s until he got a newer model. He gave it to me when he realized my interest in photography wouldn’t wane.”

Maeve was about to extend the subject when she heard Hans state he finally got the door open. He had bade them to go straight ahead to the opposite end and make themselves at home while he went to relieve himself.

The interior was small, but homey. The room they were in was a combination of living and dining room. A couch was at the far end with a small sink in the opposite corner. A sizable dining table was in the middle of the room, which had a couch against the wall facing the table, a small fire stove and oven on the opposite end near where the chairs were took up the opposite side. To the left was another table next to the window, which showed the outside. A television was propped in the upper corner on the left side of the window.

“Small place,” Alexio commented as he took the closest chair and sat down, having to wait until Hans finished with his bathroom so he could use it afterwards.

“Pre-World War by the looks of it,” Dana commented.

“It’s definitely a farming village,” Muirne said as she looked out the window. 

“Isn’t this where Tyso and his family are? Working on their family farm near here?” Maeve asked.

“Yes, it is. About ten minutes away by bicycle,” Hans said as he came back in.

“Hans, where’s your bathroom? Nature is really knocking on the door, if you know what I mean,” Alexio said.

“Outside and to the right. The outhouse is attached to the house,” Hans said.

Alexio was quite shocked at his response. “Outhouse? Really?”

“You’ll be fine. It’s clear of spiders if that’s what you’re worried about. That was my mom’s fear too. She kept that outhouse immaculate…for an outhouse, anyhow,” Hans said with an amused smile.

Alexio grumbled something in a tone that indicated he wasn’t convinced about that. He hurriedly left out the front door, barely shutting it closed.

“That’s quite the old stove, Hans,” Maeve remarked.

“I recall you saying you wanted to be a chef with your own restaurant. You think you could cook something on this?” Hans asked.

Maeve went up to and regarded the white-colored stove. It looked to be something created in the 40’s, maybe early 50’s. There was a small access on the left where one could put newspaper and wood to help create and maintain a fire. 

“I don’t see why not. Still, I haven’t seen one of these outside of a history book. Makes me think we’re at your grandmother’s place,” Maeve said with a slight tease.

“This house has been in my mother’s family for four generations,” Hans commented.

A noise at the front door prompted the group to look upon Frank Schumacher and Hans’s slightly older brother, Joseph. After extended introductions, Frank invited them all to stay for an early lunch, which was graciously accepted by all, as all the jaunting had made many of them quite hungry.

The conversation at the table was one filled with continued variety of stories coming from Frank. Joseph was relaxed on the couch, tired from his time on the Boswell farm and somewhat falling asleep. Hans’s father gave some abbreviated family stories to his son’s friends; such as staying in Germany after the war even though he was Jewish, how he met his son’s mother, Greta Brandt, the joys when Hans and Joseph were born and the heartbreak when their mother had passed on back in 73’. Joseph picked on his little brother, explaining how Hans could be on the self-righteous side and hold a decent grudge. It was afterwards when Frank invited them to tour the upstairs, coming to a huge room that was obviously turned into a spacious bedroom. Considering that it had three beds, the room was quite immense. Frank had showed them a few other rooms, one of which was used for storage, and another which could be converted into a spare bedroom if the group had decided to stay overnight. Afterwards, Frank went down the stairs and continued to talk about the history of the house and neighborhood.

Hans sat on the bed, enjoying looking out from his favorite spot in the room. Muirne was almost out the door when she paused, regarding her friend’s action.

“Coming downstairs? We have the matter of figuring out where Autumn is and deciphering this riddle,” Muirne said.

“I already have,” Hans said with a smile.

Hans’s response took Muirne slightly aback. She saw he wasn’t moving from the bed and decided to walk towards him.

“Stephen and Autumn want us to work together as a team, see how we fare together. It’s not uncommon around groups of people who are expected to work together for a greater good. Sometimes…even one’s life would depend on it. I’m just wanting to wait a bit to see what the others come up with. Part of the training we’ll all need. Besides, my dad enjoys playing the host to company that comes by,” Hans thoughtfully said as Muirne sat beside him.

“Those are quite the thoughts for a fifteen-year-old,” Muirne commented as she considered his earlier words, watching him contemplating something.

“My mother was conscripted in the Nazi Youth,” Hans continued before Muirne could respond to this bit of unexpected news. “She wasn’t even a teen when the War finally ended. It was something her family was forced to accept during those times. The Jungmadel she was in; and then if the war had lasted long enough, the League of German Girls for the females and the Jungvolk for the boys at the age of ten, officially joining the Hitler Youth at fourteen.”

Muirne was stunned by Han’s frankness and honesty. “Why did you tell me this?”

Hans shrugged. “I like you….I mean, I like all of you. I have the feeling we’re good people here and we can do much to help this world. We can be this world’s superheroes. And from what I’ve gathered so far about us, I think we’re a group that is required to be open with each other. I mean, being telepathic and all, maybe this is why we’ll be able to take over eventually. Also, my mom always took it upon herself to make amends for what happened. Even though she was only eleven when the war ended, she could always sense that what happened in Germany was terrible. My father never got into this detail earlier, but when he first met mom, she was very embarrassed to be around him, as he was a Jew and she had been working with the Nazis; for a while, she felt she wasn’t worthy of his love and attention.”

“But she was only a child back then….ten, eleven. She didn’t have a choice, you’ve said that,” Muirne explained.

“That’s what dad would say to, and it took a long while for her to accept that my dad was completely enamored with her and wouldn’t judge her. It took a few years but he was finally able to win her over. When mom died back in ’73, she made us promise that the cruelty and suffering such as the Jews, gypsies, mentally and physically handicapped, homosexuals trapped in the concentration camps had experienced, would never happen again if we could personally help it. There would be no untermenschen…..or ‘sub-humans.’ Not again. I got my comic book interest from her. She loved those American comics the soldiers would give her, because it always showed the superheroes doing the right thing,” Hans explained.

“Well, that explains your….Captain America complex,” Murine replied.

Hans’s face developed a wide grin. “So, you do know of comic books, then. Part of your training as a future actress?”

“Not really. Comics have never been my thing. But I have a family friend who took in an exchange student a few years ago and he had brought along some comic books, mostly Captain America ones,” Murine said.

Hans continued to look appreciatively at Muirne, who was starting to become a bit self-conscious.

“Well, I like you too Hans. Now let’s take care of this scavenger hunt we’re on,” Muirne said suddenly.

“I actually hadn’t expected you to say that,” Hans said as he stood up.

“Well, if we’re going to get to know each other, and me in particular, you’ll need to realize that us Sharpe girls tend to speak our mind…telepathic or not,” Muirne said.

The two teenagers proceeded to quickly go downstairs and appeared in the living room. They both were surprised that Frank and Joseph were not in there.

“Your dad said they were going back to work at the Boswell farm for another few hours,” Dana said.

“Has anyone figured out the riddle yet?” Hans asked.

“I’m stumped,” Maeve said.

Alexio also were clueless about what it could mean.

Dana chimed in. “I can only think about a farm that Autumn is at. ‘Needle in the stack’ and the word ‘hay’ seem to be confirmation of that theory. But there are quite a few farms here, where would we look?”

“The riddle starts with ‘In the beginning, a short time with one path before owning a path of one’s own.’ I suspect this part of the riddle is describing my friendship with Tyso. Path is short for telepath. ‘…owning a path of one’s own’ is describing me, as that I’m now a telepath,” Hans said.

“So what about the last half with ‘…hay, taking the high road will lead to the needle in the stack’?” Alexio asked.

“I suspect that may be a description of where I first met Tyso. I was instructed to find him for assistance with some machinery and I found him up in the loft inside the barn,” Hans said.

“At the Boswell farm,” Muirne said.

“Exactly.”

“Well, that would make sense. Stephen did say we would be going to familiar places on this hunt. Time to get going then, yeah?” Dana commented.

“Before we get started, I was wondering if Muirne and Maeve could find Autumn, without the use of the technology in our jaunting bands,” Hans said.

Both Maeve and Muirne looked at Hans curiously.

“Well, I mean, it should be fine, right? You two don’t have to worry about synthesizing your brain activity and behaviors like it was feared when the two of you brokeout,” Hans reiterated.

“Well, no…we don’t,” Muirne said hesitantly.

“What do you mean by synthesizing their behaviors?” Alexio asked.

Maeve explained, “When we first brokeout, there was some concern that our minds would telepathically merge to the point that we would become one person, due to our similar brain patterns and physiology because we’re twins. It’s the main reason why we didn’t get any type of major training, even though we’ve had our special powers for about four months now. We had to live apart from each other for a month to ensure that our brain patterns could adapt to our new abilities without the fear of each other’s inadvertently merging.”

“So, you’re not in danger of that now, are you?” Alexio asked.

“No. The individual training we received from Tia and Terra assured that we wouldn’t have to worry about that. We’re past the point where we consciously or unconsciously merge,” Muirne said.

“Well, Stephen mentioned telepathic tracking. When a group of three or more telepaths come together, they can get a sense of where another telepath is at,” Hans explained.

“Why do you only want Maeve and Muirne to use this power?” Dana asked.

“Well…I inadvertently overheard TIM talking to Stephen about this technique a few days ago. They both seemed to believe that because Muirne and Maeve are twins with very similar physiological and mental attributes, the same could apply to their special powers. They are inclined to believe that much like the ATP twins Tia and Terra who can utilize their powers together at the same time to increase the strength of their abilities, that maybe Muirne and Maeve can do this also, possibly close to par with the ATP twins,” Hans explained.

“Why are you trying to push us, Hans? You always go around poking your nose into places you don’t belong? Maybe it’s still true about Germans, always wanting to perform experiments on people who have no idea what’s happening to them?” Alexio directly stated.

“I didn’t eavesdrop on purpose! And don’t you ever compare me or Germans you don’t even know to those Nazi scientists!” Hans heatedly stated

“Then don’t become one!” Alexio retorted, prompting Hans to begin angrily to come toward the Argentinian boy.

“Okay, calm down! And here I thought we were finally starting to get along properly. Look, Maeve, Muirne, if you don’t want to do this technique on your own, that’s fine. Your choice, with no judgment either way. We’re supposed to be working as a team and I’m sure if we all did this technique, we could still find Autumn,” Dana quickly said.

“Alexio, you’re a jerk,” Muirne directed her annoyance at him.

“Relax, I was only egging him on. You can’t get to truly know someone if you’re always nice to them. Get them in an unexpected situation and their true personality comes through. It doesn’t take much,” Alexio explained unapologetically.

“Verpiss dich, Alexio!” Hans literally growled out through clenched teeth.

“Oh! You kiss your mother with that mouth?” Alexio said out loud, just too late to remember that Hans’s mother was not living. But the words already came out and he quickly chided himself inwardly for not thinking before he spoke.

Hans was worked up as no one had ever seen him before and released himself from Dana, confronting Alexio within the younger boy’s personal space. The rising emotional silence was concentrated within that small area the two boys occupied, intently sizing each other up.

“Yeah,” Alexio abruptly blurted out. “You’re right. That was absolutely not cool what I just said.”

Dana, Maeve, and Muirne were a variety of quick thoughts of what to do about this increasingly, and potentially dangerous situation developing before them. Dana could see that Alexio was looking directly at Hans’s eyes. Hans was unmoving, still directly in Alexio’s face.

Alexio harshly sighed out, continually focused on Hans’s eyes. “I do apologize for not thinking and bringing your mom into this. That….was uncalled for.”

Muirne wanted to say something but was resigned with the group to have this play out, even if the circumstances weren’t what she, or the others, would be hoping for. There was a part of her that hoped Hans would give Alexio what for. What was more unusual was how Alexio somehow had been managing to get on her and her sister’s nerves. Since they had been at Havenshire for the past few weeks, something about him was always giving her an annoying feeling with him. It was something she still couldn’t put her finger on.

“You’re a putz,” Hans stated as he continued to stare back at Alexio, who proceeded to slowly back down from the confrontation. 

Hans shook his head, his thoughts confused, his emotional state in turmoil. He glanced at Muirne, who had a look of concern on her features. The other two girls were also wondering what was to happen next. Being that he was the leader for this part of the scavenger hunt, he was required to make a decision, and soon.

“Right, okay. Let’s all take a minute to get our heads on straight,” Hans said.

“Actually, why don’t you stupid boys take a few minutes to recover, since it was you two who decided to go all testosterone on everyone here,” Muirne stated, her Irish burr coming out in growing frustration. 

Hans was somewhat shocked that Muirne would state her demands in such a way, but she was clearly disappointed and quite perturbed at him. Both he and Alexio embarrassingly left the living room to go to a place of recovery. 

The three female telepaths resigned themselves to some alone time and released their relief that the confrontation was over.

“Well, Muirne. I’m impressed. I thought you were somewhat crushing on Hans,” Dana remarked.

Muirne regarded the younger girl, “Oh I am, but I can’t abide when boys who insist on acting the maggot about their stupid baloney pony sizes, and I will give them what for.”

“Hear hear!” Maeve spoke out loud and burst out laughing at her twin sister’s usage of words.

Dana was at a loss of, as to what she presumed to be Irish slang in Muirne’s response. Muirne seemed to telepathically pick up on Dana’s curiosity and whispered it’s meaning in her ear. The youngest of the newest Tomorrow People widened her eyes in shocked amusement and laughed uncontrollably for an extended time, joining in with Maeve.

“I like you two,” Dana said simply once she was able to catch her breath.

Muirne continued to chuckle. “Well, that’s a positive step for this group then.”

“Aye, the female part, anyhow,” Maeve finished, eliciting even more laughter.

For the next couple minutes the Irish twins relegated Dana with more Irish slang, prompting more laughter and a sense of camaraderie which hadn’t seemed evident when they had first started on this training activity. By the time the boys had come back from their individual respective recuperation from their brief, but intense argument, the girls had settled back into focusing on the task at hand.

“Feeling better now?” Muirne asked.

Hans and Alexio had confirmed they were back into their right frame of mind. Both in their own way apologized to them for their abrupt and immature way of handling things. Muirne and Maeve were all for Hans earlier suggestion of utilizing their abilities to find Autumn, but they wanted to be around the more veteran telepaths in case things went wrong.

“Understood. It’s for the better I’m sure,” Hans said.

Taking charge again, Hans bade everyone to sit at the table to utilize the link. This method of telepathy was taught to them by Stephen the prior week. It was used for long distance telepathy by placing hands at a table and touching the tips of their fingers with each other. When practiced enough, it could also allow telepaths to get a sense of where another telepath was whom they were communicating with.

[Autumn. Can you hear us?]

Hans pathed.

[[Indeed, I can. Is there something wrong with your jaunting bands?]]

Autumn replied.

[No. We just thought we should practice the link under….more active circumstances. By what’s been explained by Stephen, there could be times we might not have access to our bands]

[[This is very true. I commend your group’s initiative. I’ll expect to see you soon]]

Autumn said.

The group of five ended the telepathic link and looked at each other expectantly.

“She’s on a farm obviously,” Dana said. “I saw a few images of farming equipment.”

“I sense she’s coming from that direction,” Alexio said, pointing to a corner of the room.

“Past the church,” Maeve commented, seeing her sister nod in agreement.

“Instead of asking TIM to provide coordinates, how about we link again and I’ll telepathically send you all an image of the Boswell farm. Agreed?” Hans asked.

Through words and gestures, the group responded that they did not have a problem with this. They quickly initiated the link and Hans quickly sent them a specific image of where they all could jaunt to without being seen. Afterwards, they stood in the middle of the living room, touched their jaunting bands, and disappeared.

***

The group of five had been at the Boswell farm for all of just five minutes when Tyso’s sister, Evergreen had come bounding up to them. The younger sister of Tyso had seen them just a few minutes ago and had been watching them for a bit before finally coming up to introduce herself to the rest of Hans’s friends. 

Even before Evergreen had some up to meet them, they all had a good sense of where Autumn was. They had jaunted next to a building which contained extra farming equipment and they had deduced that Autumn was across the way inside the light-green colored barn. After getting joined by Stephen who had been waiting for them, they all proceeded to the location, where Autumn was patiently waiting for them. 

It was afterwards that Hans went up to the loft himself to find the item he was looking for. It didn’t take long, as he noticed the crystal before he had even seen it. He grasped it and realized how it felt just perfect being in his hand.

“So, this is mine then,” Hans asked the older woman whom he sensed had come up the loft after he had found what he was looking for.

Autumn nodded quietly as she explained about the properties of the Teepuh Crystal and how it could potentially be beneficial to Hans. It was nearly the same explanation she had given Dana back in London. 

Hans immediately sent a telepathic image to the crystal, confirming that he would accept this gift. The image he sent was of his mother, as he remembered her all those years ago. A warm red color from the crystal emerged and briefly enveloped around him, taking him by surprise. 

Hans’s emotions were so strong from the act, that even Autumn could see the image. She rightly assumed it was of his mother and she couldn’t help but have heartfelt sentiments herself, as her own image she used for her crystal long ago were of Ariel and Warden.

He then looked back up at Autumn, feeling slightly embarrassed after what visually happened and he awkwardly smiled. “Yes, um…this is good. Sometimes my thoughts race much too fast for me to….write everything down, and my typing skills have been slow in developing. I’m wanting to be a writer. I don’t know if I’ve ever told you this. This is really quite practical, Autumn. Thank you.”

Autumn looked at the young boy of fifteen, recognizing an intense, thoughtful emotion develop on his features that seemed quite the opposite of what he released earlier. “For one who has been so motivated and excited to come into their special powers, you seem quite distracted. Has something happened during this activity?”

“Alexio and I had a verbal exchange that didn’t go so well. Honestly, I don’t think our group knows what to do about him. He can be quite jerky and he’s insistent on using his special powers for his own goals. I’m not feeling much like a leader if I can’t get him to see that he needs to use his special powers for the world. Just not sure what I can do, that’s all,” Hans said.

Autumn thought about what Hans had just told her, bringing back memories of her own training with her Mentor-father and her Bond-sister.

“Hans, this is just the beginning of your training. You can’t expect people to trust you right off the rat, especially during your first foray of leadership. 

Hans glanced at her funny, a look she apparently had gotten experience deciphering as it looked like she was going over what was just said.

“I think I meant to say, ‘right off the bat?’”

Hans nodded his head in affirmation. Autumn shook her head and released a sigh of slight exasperation.

“This slang is a concept I’ve not had a very good time of. But I’ll just have to persevere,” Autumn continued. “A leader does not force anyone in their group to think along the same ways he or she does. A leader gains the respect of their followers through actions, deeds, to not disregard their subordinates’ ideas, to inspire them to be better than themselves; just like you’ll have to also Hans. Everyone has their reasons for why they think and act as they do. Everyone’s background experiences are different. I promise, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to lead, just like your superheroes do in your comic books. You will not disappoint your mother,” Autumn calmly said.

Hans seemed to look at her in shock with the mention of his mother. “How did you know?”

“You have the same look in your eyes that I’ve seen coming from me. We never, ever, want to disappoint our loved ones and the legacy they’ve provided for us. Stephen told me your mother passed away, so my assumption was that you made a promise to her before she died. To be the best you could be at whatever it is you feel you need to be. You should also talk to your friends. I suspect at least one of them has a strong sense of legacy, even though that individual will not admit to it. At least not yet. In the meantime, the crystal can help with your thoughts and decisions,” Autumn said as she put an envelope in front of him for the next person to assume leadership of the group.

Hans seemed to come out from his initial downcast attitude and into a more driven one, inspired no doubt by his conversation with Autumn. He thought about what she said, concluding that it made sense. 

Hans came back out from the barn, seeing the others still in conversation with Tyso and his sister, Evergreen. He inadvertently kept his eye on Evergreen for more than he had thought, as she mimicked the same subtle reaction to him. Tyso seemed to have picked up on this and put a firm hand on his shoulder.

“How goes the hunt, Hans?” the young telepathic gypsy asked.

“It goes…good, Tyso.”

Hans felt that his friend was a bit too exaggerated with his cheerfulness, but that was okay. The decision of the past month of Evergreen officially breaking up with him, after only a week of “dating” was amicable. Her reasons being that she ‘didn’t want a boy knowing her every thought like her brother’ was understandable. Of course, Tyso was being the big brother watching out for his sister, it reminded him of his not much older brother who had shared their mother’s sentiment regarding the onset and interest of girls, that no one of the opposite sex would ever be good enough for their child, or in this case, sibling. Regardless, the three of them had managed to develop a strong friendship overall. He also recalled his brother telling his father that ‘he’s only fifteen and a week of being in puppy love is a lifetime for one his age.’ Hans inwardly smirked at Joseph’s comment, who was not even a year and a half older, trying to discuss things with his father like he had such a long lifetime of wisdom in his short sixteen years of living.

Hans gave his friend an authentic smile as he got Alexio’s attention and handed him an envelope with his name on it. He still felt the tension between them, but at the moment he didn’t’ care. He noticed Dana come up to him.

“Did you get a crystal, too?”

Hans nodded. “I did. It’s pretty cool, actually.”

The curt response he got from Dana suggested to him that she did not share those same feelings about it like he had. She sauntered back to Alexio as he read the letter quietly. 

“You’re not a bad person, Hans,” Maeve said, startling him.

“What do you mean by that?” Hans asked.

“We know Stephen wanted us to use our telepathic tracking skills, but you know that he wanted all five of us to familiarize ourselves with that trick. Not just Muirne and me,” Maeve stated.

“Are you thinking I didn’t care about you two? I do,” Hans urgently said.

Maeve warmly grasped his arm. “I know you do. But I’ve noticed that you tend to not think fully about your actions. You’re a bit on the reckless side at times and you seem to like it at least that was my impression of you when you told us the story of your space adventure last week. You can’t force it, you know?”

“Force what?” Hans asked, confusion and pride mixed in when he briefly thought about his sole experience in space last month.

“Being a hero. I don’t think this being a Tomorrow Person is about that. It seems more like a skill of survival and us using our brains properly to wait until there are enough of us to take over. I would think that’s hero enough, don’t you think?” Maeve asked.

“I suppose,” Hans said, slightly opening up to the fact that Maeve’s point was close to on target. It reminded him of some conversations he had with his father and brother, who also brought this point up with him. “I’m just used to deeds speaking louder than words.”

Maeve nodded her head with understanding. “I get it. I really do. Muirne does also. Just make sure those deeds aren’t on the wrong side, no matter how right it might seem, that’s all.”

Hans regarded her curiously for a moment. “Have you and Muirne been on the receiving end of a wrong side deed?”

Hans watched Maeve give a startled, but calm physical reaction to his question. But before she could answer, Alexio and Dana had called out to them to get ready for the next part of the scavenger hunt.

“Well Hans. Looks like you’ll have to wait for the answer to that one. But the way things are going, you just might know by the end of the day at this rate,” Maeve teased.

Maeve pointed at her sister, who was yet again, in some disagreement with Alexio. Hans was curious about why the twins and Alexio seemed to rub each other the wrong way often. But then, the young Argentinean did have this habit of grating with everyone in the group. He annoyingly realized that his brother was correct in that he could hold a grudge and be self-righteous, proven with his absolute reluctance to shake off what Alexio said earlier. 

By the time Maeve and Hans got to the group, the argument between Alexio and Muirne had ceased. Alexio quickly got their attention.

“Okay, so what we know so far. We’re on the hunt for Autumn and these crystals in places which are familiar to us. Dana, yours was in London in the Underground where the original Lab was; Hans, yours was here in Toppeil, where your family works on the Boswell farm. So the assumption now is that we’re going to my home of Buenos Aires to find both.”

Everyone nodded in positive affirmation of Alexio’s probable theory.

[TIM, if you would be so kind, we need coordinates sent to our jaunting bands now, post-haste]

While Alexio’s ‘manners’ weren’t fine-tuned as Dana’s and Hans’s were, apparently it had been good enough for TIM, who acknowledged the intense teen’s demand. After a minute, the five telepaths gave quick goodbyes to Tyso and his sister and jaunted away to their new destination, leaving Stephen behind.

“You know where they’re going, then?” Tyso asked.

“Oh yeah. Autumn and I did some reconnaissance a few days ago. I came up with the scavenger hunt and she came up with the idea of it being on a more international basis, keeping them within familiar surroundings. They’ll be headed to Alexio’s neck of the woods and then to Killarney where the Sharpe sisters reside in,” Stephen said.

Tyso nodded his head in approval. “Sounds a lot less intense in getting to know their powers than we had.”

Both young men thought back to Tyso’s first mission off world to Peeri. Tyso had barely had his special powers for not even a month when that mission had begun; having no powers, breaking a leg and almost being burned to death was not the greatest way to acclimate oneself to being a Tomorrow Person. 

“Yes. No persecution or sacrifice of telepaths for the Kulthan here,” Stephen dark humorously said as he recalled the Peeri mission.

“It’s time to go Tyso,” Evergreen said impatiently.

“Oh push off, Evergreen. You’ve been so annoying this past week,” Tyso abruptly spoke out.

“I’m telling father and mother and then you’ll be sorry,” the moody teen said as she turned around haughtily and walked back to the farm property.

The two telepaths looked at her retreat silently.

“Evergreen still upset about Hans, yeah?” Stephen commented.

“Eh, stupid girl emotions,” Tyso said dismissively.

“Maybe you should find yourself a girl,” Stephen said jokily. 

“Maybe. What about you and Jennifer? How’s that been coming along?” Tyso asked directly, keeping eye contact with Stephen.

His friend’s question put Stephen very much off-guard, his fumbling for words was more of an answer to Tyso than anything he could’ve told him vocally. Tyso was the second person to ask about his relationship with Jennifer.

Tyso patted his friend’s shoulder with pseudo-comfort. “That’s okay Stephen. I understand. Anyway, you should get going and follow those neopaths to their next place. I have to get going.”

“Right,” Stephen said as he caught something in his friend’s voice which had been there for the past minute or two. Tyso empathically caught on to his concern and apologized for his attitude.

“Guess I’m concerned about John. I’ve only been back once since after the funeral for his mother. How is he doing?”

Stephen nodded. “Okay. He spends a lot of time with his father, helping him heal up. He offered to repair the remainder of the wound but his father refused. I think Mr. Halloway wants something to distract him for a while from Mrs. Halloway’s passing. Everyone who isn’t away like Elizabeth, Carol, and Warren have been looking after them, even Autumn’s been talking with John from time to time. It’s never easy to lose a loved one and parent, I’m sure.”

“Well, once this section of the farm is finished this week, I can probably visit a bit more regularly. I’ve yet to see Havenshire and this Eli person, besides I’m looking forward to seeing the new Lab,” Tyso said.

“Right. Well, don’t feel guilty Tyso. Mike is in France with his band, Hsui-Tai is in Japan looking for her family, Tricia is off world on some mission, and Kim is in the States. We’ve all been going about with business as usual, at John’s insistence. To be honest, I think he’s doing remarkably well, considering how he’s always seemed to want to be off by his lonesome when events beyond his control have happened. He’s actually utilizing the support of people who are nearby. It’ll be tough, but he’ll recover,” Stephen confidently said.

Tyso nodded. “That’s good. Now, you need to get out of here. No telling what those neopaths are up to without their observer…..observing.”

“Right, I’ll talk to you later, then.”

With those last words, Stephen went through the motions of putting his right hand on the jaunting band encircling his left wrist.

[Looking forward to your visit]

Stephen pathed as he disappeared in front of Tyso. 

Tyso immediately began the walk back to the farm. He figured he should jaunt back, but the expected vocal lashing he would probably get from his parents when he arrived prompted him to take the physical, quiet, and relaxed way back. 

***

Buenos Aires, Argentina

As soon as the five telepaths jaunted to the coordinates TIM had given them, Alexio immediately hastened the group over to a place, which he knew would allow them to be safe.

“You’re a bit on the nervous side, man,” Maeve said to the young Argentinian. 

“If you had any inkling on why, you could understand. But you don’t so since I’m in charge, you need to just listen to me, understood princess?” Alexio ordered.

Before Maeve could give back a retort, Muirne grasped her shoulder and spoke to her privately telepathically.

[Let it go sister-of-mine. You know how jerky he gets. Pick your battles]

Maeve gave her sister a disgruntled look who had used the exact tone she herself had used earlier in the day when Muirne had been about to get into it with Alexio.

[I am so tired of his attitude. It’s ridiculous. He’s continually been acting like we’ve all done something so bad to him. Can’t figure him out if he won’t tell us. Isn’t this what this scavenger hunt has been all about, getting to know each other and working together?]

Muirne continued to hold onto her twin sister’s shoulder until she calmed down within the next minute. 

“Many children are kidnapped and never seen again. Women also; there are rumors they’re flown on planes out toward the ocean and never seen again. Not sure if it’ll happen to Autumn but I don’t want to leave her all alone in the city for too long. I don’t understand why Stephen had us come here like this. You would think he would take his responsibilities of being in charge a bit more seriously. It’s obvious he has no idea what it’s like in Bueno Aires. Let’s get our jaunting bands to fix on her position,” Alexio snapped his explanation out.

As the group reviewed their coordinates, Dana regarded her friend for a moment.

“There’s no need to have such a tone with us.”

“You Westerners just don’t understand, or don’t care,” Alexio responded to Dana’s comment, turning his head to look intensely at her and snorted. “Even your sister….Jennifer, right? When I was recovering the night I ‘brokeout’, I heard your father mention that she twice referred to my home as Rio de Janeiro; when she was about to say it again, I reminded her that this was Buenos Aires and the city she insisted on describing as my city was located in Brazil.”

“Well, she’s always wanted to visit there,” Dana defended her sister weakly.

Alexio ignored her comment, quickly adjusting the jaunting band controls.

“Everyone ready?” Alexio asked pointedly.

“Still having issues with this one part….okay, got it,” Hans replied.

The five telepaths jaunted and found themselves across the street from an active roundabout. The group looked around to find nothing but green grass and concrete surrounding what looked like some type of monument in the middle of the circular road. 

Alexio looked around intensely before regarding the Monument of the Spanish statue, noticing the familiarly dressed woman standing there.

Alexio quickly got the group’s attention, “Okay, here’s what I need to have happen. You four will stay here, keep an eye out for any authority-type figures, people intent on looking at the middle of the roundabout. I’m going to the Monument.”

Questions from a few of them were immediately shut down by the Argentinean youth, who quickly proceeded to cross the street toward where Autumn was. 

Hans could only just stand incredulously and looked at Dana. “You know him better than any of us, what is this kid’s deal? He’ become completely unreasonable to any of our concerns.”

“Don’t know, we’ve barely had time to catch our breath and figure our surroundings and he’s giving out orders without so much as an explanation,” Dana said as her impatience for this boy began rising in sync with her frustration with him.

There had been only one time when Muirne and her sister had to follow orders this closely and without the benefit of an explanation. She figured she would just have to trust that Alexio knew what he was doing; however, she realized that Alexio was expecting a lot out of people whom he seemed to dismiss every chance he got.

“It’ll be okay. Let’s just take a seat at that bench there and blend in with the environment. As we are right now, people will begin to wonder,” Muirne said.

The four began to head toward a few benches and sat themselves down, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible.

Alexio quickly crossed the street, getting Autumn’s attention when he arrived at the bottom of the monument base. 

“You really shouldn’t be out here alone in a public area like this,” Alexio said in his most displeased voice.

Autumn looked at him, puzzled. “Do you not believe I’m safe here?”

“You know, we had a conversation about how such a time-displaced individual such as yourself was going to plan this…scavenger hunt. Hans came up with a good theory about why you would only go to locations that have been visited by other telepaths, assuming they were safe. You…are nowhere near safe, Dana, Jennifer, Carol, and Mike were never in this area during their time here. My mother has told my stepfather plenty of times to always be aware of his surroundings since he’s moved here, and at least he’s had the smarts to listen to her. Now, let’s get this crystal and leave before we catch the attention of people, we don’t want to get attention from.”

Alexio could sense that Autumn was astonished by his abrupt explanation, but what was on his mind now was finding this crystal, which he suspected rightly was somewhere on the statue. As he telekinetically brought the object to him, he caught a quick glimpse of Autumn, who surprisingly wasn’t upset or even angry about how he had spoken to her; in fact, she looked downright content with his actions thus far. A far cry from the usual response he was given when he acted out; whether it was received by his parents or the group he was currently with.

Is she…proud of me? This woman is entirely weird, Alexio thought as he acquired the crystal and shoved it in his pocket.

“Are you not wanting to know what this crystal is?” Autumn asked.

Alexio looked around, saw his group lounging on the benches, occasionally looking in his direction. But that didn’t mean they were safe out in the open like this.

“You know, I’ll get the information from Dana and Hans. We should go.”

Alexio turned back around and was shocked to see that Autumn was no longer standing near him. He quickly looked around to realize that she was gone, apparently having jaunted. Becoming more perturbed, he immediately set off to crossing the roundabout, telepathically communicating with Dana and the others.

[There are some bushes in the distance behind you. We need to go there and then we’ll jaunt back to where TIM set us at when we got here. I know it’s safe there. Move]

It only took Alexio a short minute to catch up to the others in the bushes. Once there, he ordered them to jaunt to their initial place and then had them double-time to his parent’s home just a few blocks away. 

The loud entrance into his home had startled Alexio’s mother, who immediately did a combination of chastising him for the abrupt loudness of his barging in and greeting him with joy that he was home after so many weeks away. His mother insisted that they all stay for a late breakfast or at the very least, kick their feet up and relax for a bit.

***

Stephen was sitting on a roof just a few blocks from where the Delgado family residence was. Autumn had just jaunted in after a quick look around the town. 

“What do you think?” Stephen asked.

“This is a very beautiful environment. I do hope their government is displaced and proceeded by a more….forgiving administration. This military dictatorship has many people nervous and anxious. Their surface thoughts are very vocal in that regard,” Autumn said.

Stephen sighed. “Yeah. Alexio was quite serious about his fears. I’m starting to realize how these current events have affected his attitude and opinions. I was quite surprised that he didn’t want you to explain about the Teepuh Crystal.”

Autumn pulled up a seat next to the Briton teen. “He is a very intense individual. Indeed, by now, they’ve all figured out where they’re going. I’m more concerned in how they’re all getting along.”

Stephen nodded his head thoughtfully. “Right. They’ve all been pushed pretty intensely for the past few weeks in the usage of their special powers. I suppose it was bound to happen that they’re getting on each other’s nerves.”

“As long as they’re coalescing as a team by the end of this activity,” Autumn replied as she studied Stephens’s demeanor. “Still debating if you believe you’re treating Dana unfairly?”

Stephen had a self-depreciating smirk develop on his face. “Can’t help but feel that I’ve been doing some passive-aggressive representation when it comes to her. I’ve known her sisters for over six years, even had a crush on Carol in the first year I became a Tomorrow Person. I would like to believe I developed a reasonable association with her other sister Jennifer in the intervening years since she went off world to live with Carol’s husband. She even visited me a few times while Tyso and I were recuperating on the Federation medical world.”

“Sounds like there’s some unresolved issues between the two of you, preventing personal balance from being attained,” Autumn replied.

“I’m sure there is,” Stephen said quietly. 

Autumn smiled and leaned back in the yard chair, relaxing. “After that last jaunt, I have a feeling they’re going to stay here for an extended period. They seemed pretty tired after that jaunt from Germany to Argentina.”

“Sounds good. I’ll take first watch and let you know if any changes develop,” Stephen said.

“Thank you, Stephen,” Autumn replied.

***

It had been more than an hour since the group had come to Alexio’s home to rest from their longest jaunt so far. After a lengthy and healthy snack provided by Mrs. Delgado, a few in the group began to fall sleepy and were getting ready to nap. The group had been lounging, wrestling with their individual thoughts, obviously noticeable that since Germany, things had been tense between them. Alexio’s refusal to allow things to be settled with Hans and his display of harsh and authoritative leadership abilities during the hunt had truly exhausted everyone, prompting a troubled environment. Alexio had come to realize that he would need much more practice working with a team in that capacity, as even he had to admit that his leadership had assisted in the current guarded and insecure emotional levels currently being experienced. 

“Alexio, can you come here for a moment?”

The young teen quietly followed his mother to his stepfather’s small den. He could tell something was on her mind, and wondered if another of her friends or friend of a friend had gone missing again. 

“This came in the mail this past week and I was hoping you would want to make a decision on what to do with it,” Dawn Delgado-Malken quietly said as she handed her son the package.

Alexio immediately noticed there was a reverence to the way she presented him with the object. It had already been opened, as the addressee was to the people of this residence. He grasped the package, careful of it’s weight and set it down. Reaching in with his hand, he slowly retrieved a familiar looking book; a book which had been obviously worn and read repeatedly. He turned the front cover and found the familiar looking address which his friend had written down inside the cover a few years back.

“Someone found his Jersey Smith and The Marauders of Death novel,” Alexio quietly said, thinking of what he must do next.

Alexio regarded his mom, who had a much-centered look about her.

“I never told you how Elpidio lost his favorite book.”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to, Alexio. I will understand,” Dawn said to her only son.

Alexio sighed. “No. My responsibility. I’ll get on it. I shouldn’t be long to return it.”

Before Dawn could respond to him, Alexio had jaunted away. She stood there for a bit, still in awe of her son’s recently acknowledged special abilities. She worried for him, never liking that he would seem to want to take the world on his own. He was truly his father’s son. She glanced over to the living to find that a few of his friends, including Dana, were napping; except the twin girls, whose names still eluded her. She came to a decision.

***

“I promise I’ll stop by when I can Mrs. Hernandez. Please say hi to Gemma for me.”

As the door gently shut, Alexio rubbed his tear-filled eyes. He thought he would’ve been able to talk with Mrs. Hernandez without breaking down, but his eyes had betrayed him. Again, whenever he thought about that event, he would tear up every now and then. Not for the first time, he got annoyed at himself to be outwardly displaying these “weak” feelings, wondered what he could do to turn them off. Especially if he was going to use his special powers to put a stop to the evil that was going on in his country.

“Alexio, we need to talk.”

Alexio immediately swung around, heart rate and adrenaline going up, until he realized the person whose voice came from was in fact, Muirne. Her sister was standing next to her. Within the few seconds he took to calm down, he noticed their stance was strong, their eyes focused entirely on him. 

“What are you two doing here? I was on my way back,” Alexio said with an irked tone.

“Your mom sent us here,” Muirne said.

“Well, actually…she pointed us in the right direction. Giving us landmarks to use to get here safely. It’s our choice to be here,” Maeve corrected her.

“Right, anyway, your mom believed that you bottle up too much inside and if you can’t talk to her, maybe you can talk to your….”new friends,” as she put it,” Muirne said.

“Of course, that’s still subject to debate,” Maeve said.

“Will you please let me talk, I’m the one who can usually get the point across,” Muirne told her sister.

Maeve looked at her sister with a focused quietness. “And you do realize I’m twelve minutes older than you.”

It looked like Muirne was about to retort to her sister’s quiet family reminder, but a quick look toward Alexio seemed to make her realize that this wasn’t the time to bring up familial squabbles. 

Their argumentative mannerisms with each other reminded Alexio of a few other friends who had siblings who would argue with their sibling, just for the sake of arguing. He wondered, and not for the first time, how kids their age were expected to bring order and a semblance of sanity to this otherwise dangerously, imperfect world. 

Alexio led the Irish twins to the nearby garage, unfolding a seat for each of them. They sat down and regarded one another quietly. 

“Okay. I just returned a book a good friend of mine had. It was his favorite book based off some television character from the United States. A year ago, we were walking from a basketball game in the evening. I was trying to talk to him about the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo. They’re a group of mothers and a few clergy who gather every Thursday bringing attention to the many missing children who were taken by our dictator government. Elpidio Hernandez, my friend…he was usually right there when I talked about what we could do about this atrocity. For some reason, he was just going on and on about something that happened to this Jersey Smith in the book. I reacted by taking the book and throwing it back a good distance. I was angry that he wasn’t paying attention to my concerns. Anyway, he went back to grab it up and he was accosted by a group of men. There was a scuffle, loud voices which actually made me panic. I swear, I wanted to go back for him, to get him out of there, but they had guns; and when they saw me, I could only run away…I mean, what’s a twelve-year-old kid supposed to do against danger like that?”

As Alexio was talking, Muirne intently listened to the younger boy, realizing that he was truly talking to them. It was almost like he was just tired and knew he wouldn’t be able to keep this from them; telepathy aside, Muirne felt that she got a sense of a relief coming from Alexio. Now it would her turn.

“Okay, Alexio. So, here’s my story,” Muirne quickly looked back Maeve. “Our story. We lived in Warrenpoint planning to visit relatives of ours. A small family get together. We were….ten years old actually, just shy of our eleventh birthday. We traveled down to Monaghan for the family reunion. We were downtown in a pub which was closed for our party. Aunt Collette, she was one of our favorite aunts whom we absolutely adored. I remember when we went outside for a bit and I felt something wrong, I couldn’t place my finger on it. We passed by a green car, for some reason, that car scared me. I didn’t understand why. And then I…..we, felt it. The noise, the heat, the lack of hearing. I was lying face first on the ground, Maeve was next to me. I remember I couldn’t breathe for some reason and realized that something was on top of me, crushing my breath away. I panicked enough to move whatever it was off of me. It was my Aunt Collette. She was walking behind us when the explosion went off. She had caught the full brunt of it, killing her. It wasn’t until later on that we found out an IRA faction called the UVF….Ulster Volunteer Force. What I’m saying is that I….we, get where you’re coming from. I didn’t realize until we came here, well…you were acting very similar to how our father had been acting after the bomb went off. He ordered us to go to a place of safety, but I didn’t want to leave our aunt behind. But he knew she was already dead and it was his duty to ensure our safety. I now understand why you’re like this. Well, Maeve and I do anyway. We understand how you must be on constant guard, aware of your surroundings. Even our father trained us a bit in that respect because we just don’t know where the next bomb, the next violence… will go off at. Constantly having to scrutinize people who even look like they’re acting peculiar, it makes one’s day a bit tiring and grumpy. It’s probably why we’ve sorta been at each other’s wrong side constantly. We both come from a culture where that’s encouraged, I’m sure.”

“Wonder if Hans and Dana will,” Alexio said.

[We do]

It was Dana telepathically speaking and Alexio looked around, but couldn’t find her.

[Up here, Alexio]

Alexio, Maeve, and Muirne looked up to see two heads looking down on them from a roof.

“Hello!” Dana cried out, a peculiar smile on her face. Hans was looking quite stoic from what Alexio could observe. He couldn’t help but involuntarily smile at her then somewhat silly behavior. He realized that they had probably heard everything and she was attempting to lighten things up a bit. He actually couldn’t blame her if that was the case.

Alexio looked around and suggested they jaunt to the roof, as he was quite certain there weren’t any shady people around. Once there, everyone took an object that they could use as some type of seat in the overcast, yet humid air. 

“You three have been through a lot,” Dana said.

“Well, what about you, Dana? You can’t tell me you’ve never worried about your sisters. Carol has been a Tomorrow Person since the beginning; Jennifer, for the last three years, you said?” Alexio said.

Dana nodded, “What I do remember from those days is that my oldest wasn’t talked about too much after she went off world. A few years later, things between my parents and her seemed to get resolved after Jennifer broke out. But then, almost immediately afterwards, Carol, along with her friends, went missing and a few months later, Jennifer decided to leave. My parents were very protective of me; just like all of your parents, I’m sure. I’ve only wanted to be there for them because I always felt that my sisters abandoned us because they had these special powers and thought they were so much better than we could ever be. And for a while, I was fine with that. I was the main child my parents could concentrate on. I wasn’t pushed aside or told to go to my room so the adults and telepaths could talk, keeping it secret from me. Honestly, my golden age of childhood has been the past few years. And now it’s come crashing down because my body decided that I needed to be a telepath also. For a while, I was different enough from my sisters to command my parent’s attention, and now I’m back to being the youngest, expected to live up to a….special legacy that my sisters have been developing for over seven years now. I’m not sure I can live up to that…I’m not sure I want to live up to that.”

“You can, Dana,” Hans said looking intently at her.

Dana shook her head. “No Hans. Don’t you see, there’s a strong part of me that doesn’t want this responsibility, this duty. I’ve never wanted to be a telepath. I never desired this specific legacy.”

The group was quiet for a bit. Five young individuals, barely into their teens trying to ready themselves to take on the weight of the world. Hans glanced at Alexio, there was still some mistrust between them but he could also realize that some type of respect was developing between them…between all of them. Realizing that he hadn’t told everything about his background like Alexio had, he decided to bring forward his beliefs. His own legacy. He briefly glanced at the twins, who was looking at him expectantly. 

Hans focused on everyone by eye before talking. “So, my mom…she imparted her legacy to me. And it’s quite complicated, it’s not pretty, it’s….quite real. I’m sure you remember my dad telling you when he met her, the physical issues they had with having children, and her unexpected death. Well, theirs was an interesting marriage because at one point, my mother…was in the Nazi Youth. Well, the Jungmadel since she was in the single digits for the majority of the war. She was barely in the League for German Girls when the war ended; her eleventh birthday was actually celebrated on V-E Day. It took her years to offset the programming and propaganda that was taught to her since she was born. It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t pretty, and sometimes it wasn’t safe. There were things she did during and after the war that she wasn’t proud of. What I do know, is that she wanted to find out why something she was brought up to believe in was so wrong; and this prompted her to seek the truth. She was able to figure out herself and she faced it in a forward way, eyes front, moving onward. Eventually she helped others get through with the guilt and self-hatred she had experienced. Believe it or not, she began reading comic books the American soldiers would have, particularly Captain America. She noted in her diary that these written words may not have been classic works, but they provided simple visual and morality tales that she could take to heart and learn from. Everything that she learned, she passed on to my brother and me. She felt she had to make it her life’s mission to continually atone again and again for her crime of losing her innocence. She made sure, through her actions and our observations that we would help people whenever we could. Even after she passed on, dad, brother, myself, we go out and help the people in our village when we could. It’s why we’re helping out on the Boswell farm. We’ve known Tyso’s uncle for years and we didn’t want him to lose his crop. No one’s legacy is perfect, or simple, or clean. But when the challenge is continually met to attain the apex of that legacy to the best of your ability, it’s one of fulfilled and renewed purpose.”

There was a prolonged silence among the group as they took in what Hans had told them.

“Let the self-righteousness flow through you,” Muirne said in her best Obi-Wan Kenobi voice.

There was a nervous silence until Hans himself burst out laughing; a few seconds afterwards, everyone in the group began to have various levels of laughter and giggling. Muirne came up with another joke related to Star Wars and now the whole group was caught in uncontrollable laughter, each trying to one up the other with their own spin on the movie as related in their current environment. 

“Okay, okay. I’ll admit, I do get passionate about my life’s mission and responsibility. But that’s just who I am,” Hans replied as the laughter subsided enough for him to talk.

“Well, at least you don’t have a problem poking fun at yourself,” Muirne said as she thought back to the German boy’s earlier verbal fight with Alexio; she wisely thought better of bringing that up at this time.

“So Hans, what’s the deal with the crystal?” Alexio said suddenly.

Hans warily regarded the Argentinean boy; the argument they had earlier was still weighing on him. However, he began thinking that there would always be arguments among them in some form or fashion, and it seemed Alexio, in his own way, was trying to make amends to be civil. 

“So, these crystals have been in our rooms for the past few weeks, attuning themselves to our unique…telepathic signature. For the crystal to be completely ours, we consciously send a thought or image into it. Afterwards, the crystal is yours and no other telepath can put their own thoughts or images into it; unless you want them to. Just so you’re aware, the effects can feel….unexpected.”

Alexio intensely regarded the crystal for a bit, before finally following the instructions which Hans had explained to him. It was an unanticipated and calming feeling he felt, like the crystal had put him into a protective telepathic covering.

“Well, that was…unexpected,” Alexio replied regarding the crystal’s aftereffects.

“Aye, that it was,” Maeve said in quiet awe.

“I would have to agree, why did you do that? I mean, supposedly we all have a choice on whether or not we want this crystal within that capacity,” Dana said.

Alexio shrugged. “Because if something happens to me, I want somebody, a telepath most likely, to tell my mother and step-father that I had done everything I could do to throw out this government we have. Everything I can learn, will learn….everything I’ve experienced; well, maybe someone else can use what I leave behind as their foundation and take up the fire. I’m not trying to guilt you into accepting the crystal, Dana. But I need my actions to be remembered, if only that it can help others here in Argentina.”

“I have to agree with Alexio,” Hans said somewhat stiffly.

Dana felt immediately off-balance by what she had inwardly deemed an unexpected action from Alexio. Since they had broken out at the same time, she felt that she had more of a connection with him than the other members of this group. An unexpected pang of jealously rose up within her regarding the slightly stronger connection Alexio had seemed to make with Hans. Uneasily shoving it back to the inner recesses of her mind, she got up from where she was sitting, brushing the concrete dust that had accumulated on her clothes.

“Well, we should be getting back. I won’t mind a bit more rest if we need it, but I believe Alexio has the contents for our next search left at his mom’s,” Dana said.

The group agreed as various members took to their feet. There was a sense of reinvigoration now, that hadn’t been there since just before they left Germany. There were various, brief conversations that seemed to flow with a better ease now. 

“You doing okay?” Maeve asked Dana.

Dana stammered for a response. “Sure. Just…feeling good that we’re getting along again.”

Maeve observed the younger girl for a slightly extended time, noticing her emotion, before abruptly turning to her sister. “Looks like one of us is next.”

“Aye, let’s go,” Muirne said, her Irish burr coming out with excitement.

As Alexio, Maeve, Muirne and Hans jaunted, Dana telepathically conducted a search and right away she saw him a few roofs down the way. 

[Stephen, have you been listening in to our conversations during your observations of us?]

[No, Dana. I’ve been dampening down my telepathic powers so you all have your privacy. I’ve only been keeping a visual eye on you all]

Stephen pathed.

Dana contemplated his reply for a second, as if realizing something.

[Um…thank you, Stephen. You’re not as bothersome as I thought you were]

[Well, that’s good to know. You’re not going to take any pictures while you’re here?]

Stephen asked.

Dana continued to look in his direction a few roofs ahead.

[No. Many I’ve taken already this summer during my stay]

[Don’t let it distract you from your main goals today]

Stephen reminded her.

[Ah, there’s the annoying one I remember, now]

Dana immediately jaunted back to Alexio’s place, leaving Stephen alone to contemplate his own motivations.

***

One of the surprises Muirne realized when given the envelope by Alexio after they jaunted back to his mother’s, was that it had both her and Maeve’s names on it. While Alexio was spending a bit of time with his mom and Dana and Hans were relaxing on the couch engaged in quiet conversation, the two twin sisters had been trying to figure out the riddle. They were positive that they would find Autumn in their hometown of Killarney, so they decided to figure out together what the riddle meant before jaunting to Ireland. This would allow the group to rest up before jaunting to such a long distance again. 

It was an hour later when Maeve gathered everyone into the outdoor patio to communicate their results. Alexio commented that he would never want to get into an argument with them, as he had heard them throughout the past hour arguing and calling each other names. The others had reluctantly, but jokingly agreed with him.

“I’m just saying, you two could probably have figured it out in fifteen minutes if you hadn’t argued the rest of the time,” Alexio said.

It was then that Alexio did a dead-on impression of the sisters and the various insulting words they had said to each other, both Dana and Hans couldn’t help but get a good laugh out of his perfect imitations.

“Yes, yes, okay. You make a fine vocal impressionist, but we would appreciate it if you would quell your baloney pony tendencies and allow us to explain what we came up with,” Muirne said with a false sweetness in her tone.

A choking noise, followed by water splashed on the table abruptly had everyone turn towards Dana, who was now laughing uncontrollably. She profusely apologized between coughing up water and repeating ‘baloney pony’ a few times. Alexio stared curiously at Dana, and then at Maeve who was also on the verge of laughing. He looked at Hans who shrugged his shoulders, slowly shaking his head in confusion. Muirne waited patiently for the commotion to die down and for Dana to finish cleaning up the water she literally vomited out from her uproarious laughter. 

Muirne began, “Aye, now….here’s the riddle, ‘You are a triquetra of creation, destruction, and preservation; continually cyclical and bonded with birth, death, and rebirth. No beginning, no end’.”

“Huh?” Alexio began.

“Quite…spiritual sounding,” Hans said.

“What the bloody hell is a triquetra?” Dana burst out.

The group looked at the youngest of the new Tomorrow People with peculiar reactions to their faces.

“Right, I’m going to be expected to save the world from time to time, that gives me the right to curse however I see fit,” Dana said with righteous authority. “Right, come on. Let’s get on with it then.”

“Aye…Britons,” Muirne shook her head and rolled her eyes. “So, after our….discussion, we came up with a probable theory. So, to explain quickly. Maeve and I have been telepaths for about four months, and in that time, we’ve had some conversations with Stephen about our history. So I think it’s only proper that this riddle would be directly related to our personal past. Triquetra, to answer Dana’s earlier question, is a triangular ornament of three interlaced arcs used on metalwork and stone crosses. It’s very standard with Celtic triangles, or Celtic knots as they’re commonly associated with. There are many variations of the trio in regards to their meaning. The riddle describes creation, destruction, and preservation, which we believe pertains to our personal lives in some way. Maeve, if you want to continue.”

Muirne focused on her sister, who was waiting eagerly for her chance to explain. “Yes, creation, destruction, and preservation or…..birth, death, and rebirth. Three major concepts, which directly correspond with our lives. We were born in Warrenpoint, we witnessed death in Monaghan, we went through a rebirth when we moved to Killarny soon afterwards. Somewhere in these three towns is where we’ll find Autumn and the crystals.”

“If your theory is correct, that’s quite different from what the rest of us had to go through,” Dana replied.

“Yes, it is, why would your search be so different?” Hans chimed in.

“Because they’re working together,” Alexio said, bringing the group’s focus on him. “The names on the envelop alone clearly state that Stephen and Autumn want you two to work together. I suspect, like Hans did in Germany, that they’re wanting you two to utilize your abilities together. To work in sync. You said it your earlier that you won’t have to worry about your special powers prompting your behaviors and attitudes into one being.”

Maeve and Muirne nodded in agreement.

Maeve continued, “Going by the concepts of triquetra, there is no beginning or end. While I believe it doesn’t matter which town we go to first, I believe we’ll find Autumn at Killarny near our home.”

“Because we’ve always found her within the parameters of our individual local living environments,” Hans said.

“Exactly,” Muirne confirmed.

“Well, I think everyone is well-rested now. We should make haste and find out, then,” Dana replied. 

The group nodded in agreement and began to gather their glasses, preparing to thank Mrs. Delgado-Malken for her hospitality and patience during their extended stay. Hans held back a bit as the group went on ahead and tapped Dana on the shoulder, waiting for the others to go inside.

“So….um, what’s this baloney pony thing all about? That’s the second time it’s been mentioned when describing Alexio and I’m still in the dark on what it means.”

Dana could not help but have a wicked smile on her face. “Well, that’s good then. Besides, if I told you, I would be breaking the rules.”

“Rules of what?” Hans asked.

Dana looked back at him. “Women, silly.”

Hans watched with nervous curiosity as Dana went inside. 

***

After proper appreciations and goodbyes to Alexio’s mother, the group, now led by Muirne and Maeve prompted TIM to jaunt them all to their home in Killarney. They appeared directly in the Sharpe backyard, the best place for them, as it was surrounded by a stone wall and trees. 

“Let’s go and relax a bit. These long-distance jaunts have been tiring for you all. Maeve and I will figure out where Autumn is,” Muirne said. 

Hans, Dana, and Alexio agreed and went inside after Maeve telekinetically unlocked the back-patio door.

“I get the feeling you have something in mind,” Maeve said.

“I want to find Autumn without the use of the programs we have in our jaunting bands,” Muirne said.

Maeve furrowed the front of her forehead. “True telepathic tracking?”

“Remember last month when Stephen was giving us pointers for jaunting. One of the things he explained was that a telepath can find the location of another telepath if the telepathic sending is strong enough.”

Maeve thought back on her sister’s recollection. “Yes, but that was because Tricia was going through a breakout, and she had adrenaline strength breakout abilities, because of this…shape changer that was coming after them.”

“Jedikiah, I believe he was called,” Muirne recalled. “But yes, she heard Stephen calling and went to his exact location. We can combine our special powers to make them work as strong as Tricia had. We should be able to find her.”

“If she responds,” Maeve said.

“She will. You ready to try it?” Muirne asked with a confidence that made Maeve relax.

Maeve nodded and prompted them to sit at the patio table. The two sisters linked their fingertips to each other’s.

[Autumn, can you hear us?]

[I can, indeed]

[Maeve and I are assuming you’re in Killarney]

Murine said.

[You are quite correct]

Autumn pathed.

[Okay, we’ll get to you in just a moment, then]

Muirne pathed.

[I’ll be expecting you, then]

Autumn replied.

The two Sharpe sisters broke off contact and looked at each other.

“Near St. Mary’s Cathedral,” Maeve said.

“That’s the image I got,” Muirne confirmed.

“Okay, let’s go,” Maeve said.

“Wait!”

Maeve looked at her sister as she watched her take off her jaunting band. 

“Muirne, what are you doing? We’re supposed to leave the bands on, they help us jaunt.”

Muirne nodded. “Yes, but I’m quite sure this aspect of our powers will allow us to jaunt fine without them.

Maeve stared at her sister with squinted eyes before making a decision. Still watching her, she took her own jaunting band off and gave to her sister’s waiting hand. Afterwards, she watched as Muirne went opened the back door and set it on the kitchen counter. She quickly came back outside. She held on to her sister’s arm.

“Well, here we go,” Maeve said.

The two jaunted and reappeared directly on the church property, Autumn was only a few meters in front of them.

Autumn turned around, slightly startled when she observed the twins weren’t wearing the jaunting bands. “Did you jaunt here without the bands?”

Muirne had expected to be put in her place because they had purposely left their jaunting bands behind, but judging by Autumn’s reaction, she looked happy, possibly even gained a few millimeters upwards with pride, at least that how it reminded her. 

“Yes, we did. We had a feeling you were wanting us to use our abilities together, to see if we were stronger when used in that way,” Muirne said.

Autumn nodded her head up and down. “This is true. I’m impressed you appeared within feeters of me.”

The twins looked at the older woman oddly, working on deciphering the peculiar word she had said.

“Um….feet…meters?” Autumn said.

“Yes. Exactly. Although feet is commonly used in America, while the proper countries have used meters for years now,” Maeve said.

“Two differing units of measure in the world. How peculiar,” Autumn noticed as she looked back at the church building.

“It’s very lovely inside. I’m assuming you two have been in here before?” Autumn asked.

Maeve explained that she had occasionally frequented St. Mary’s Cathedral; however, Muirne had a more detailed response.

“Maeve and I first visited St. Mary’s when we were very young. I absolutely adored the inside. But the next time we came, they had ‘reordered’ it. The interior was entirely changed from it’s original, I haven’t liked it since,” Muirne explained.

“Oh. That is sad. One’s history should never be changed without preserving it’s original in some aspect,” Autumn said.

“I agree. Although, I’m sure there are pictures saved from it’s original construction,” Muirne said.

“All right, then. We found you, you can give us our crystals now,” Maeve said with anticipation and slight impatience.

Autumn studied the young twin girls. They obviously were very close to each other. They loved, argued, teased, and stood for each other like proper family would do. They truly did touch her heart.

“Indeed. I’m assuming you’ve spoken with the group regarding how they work. And knowing that you’ve solved the riddle, then you already know where the crystals are,” Autumn said.

Muirne nodded her head knowingly. “Yeah, we figured you’d say that. I have to admit it’s a good riddle; and you and Stephen have known Maeve and I the most, so we were expecting this last bit would entail a bit more of us and our more foundational familiarity of our special powers.”

Autumn again observed the Irish sisters, remembering their motivations and positive energy regarding their new status.

“I must insist that you not leave your jaunting bands behind. I know you’ll be utilizing your jaunting abilities without them; however, you will give your bands to one person in your group individually. I will assume I’m understood,” Autumn stated in no uncertain terms.

Maeve caught the serious tone behind Autumn’s words and nodded her head, vocally stating she would follow the older woman’s instructions. Muirne did likewise.

“Excellent. Then I will see one of you when you retrieve your crystal and for any concerns and questions you may have,” Autumn stated as she prepared to take her leave of them.

Muirne and Maeve watched as the she disappeared from their view. Afterwards, they grasped each other’s hands and jaunted back to their father’s house. Once there, they explained the remainder of their activity with the others. Heeding Autumn’s orders, Muirne gave her jaunting band to Alexio, while Maeve gave hers to Dana. 

Dana noticed the subtle, perturbed look Hans gave Muirne when she gave her band to Alexio. She had been inwardly as surprised as he was when she chose him for that responsibility. Things were still somewhat off between Alexio and Hans and why Muirne seemed to instigate it more was perplexing. She came out of her thoughts when Muirne explained she was going to telepathically place an image of a place she knew of in the town of Monaghan where they would appear. Afterwards, she contacted TIM to send coordinates to their jaunting bands before they began. They jaunted.

It was the middle of the afternoon when Muirne, Maeve, Hans, Dana, and Alexio arrived in Monaghan. Within the first five minutes, the twins had found one of the crystals. It was decided that since Muirne had mostly taken charge of this aspect of their search, she would be the one to retain it. Interestingly, when Autumn asked her if she had any more questions about the crystal’s usage, she asked if she would be able to look upon her mother visually and if it could also record any of her original songs she would sing. Autumn replied that it would be possible if the memory was strong enough, but also reminded her that those memories would only be as how she remembered her mother; as for songs, she confidently replied that the crystal would remember. Seemingly satisfied with her answer, Muirne went back to the group, telling Maeve she was now in charge of finding the last crystal.

“So how does it feel?” Alexio asked Muirne.

“How does what feel?” Muirne said.

“Neither of you are using your jaunting bands. You both come together and it’s like, your special powers are strengthened. I was just wondering if it feels any different?”

“It doesn’t feel any different. Although, I don’t feel as tired as I have been if we jaunted individually,” Muirne thoughtfully said.

“Well, we didn’t actually jaunt as far as we did with Argentina. That’s a whole ocean away. Pretty sure we would’ve been just as tired after a distance such as that,” Maeve said.

“Yes. Honestly, I don’t know how Autumn does it. I haven’t noticed her wearing a jaunting band and she’s been literally appearing everywhere around the world,” Muirne said.

“Advanced telepath, right? They have stronger powers?” Hans asked.

“She’s what’s generally known as an ATP,” Dana mentioned. “From what I’ve understood, her abilities are stronger because her jaunting abilities have a more…connection of what’s in hyperspace. It allows her to jaunt further, phase, become invisible, and to have the limited ability to go back in time. And I think because of this, all her abilities have to be stronger to enable them to use hyperspace in that way.”

“Go back in time? No way!” Alexio burst out unbelievably. 

“No, I’m pretty sure that’s correct. You can ask Dr. Wilson about it, she has more detailed information about them,” Dana said.

Muirne seemed to perk up a bit at the mention of being able to go back in time. “How far back can she go?”

Dana shook her head, “Not far, a few minutes back at most. Stays in hyperspace too long while attempting it and there’s a good chance it’s properties will annihilate her body. She’ll basically become one with it. I remember my sister, Carol, telling me one time how she and John got trapped in hyperspace and how the properties of it caused their body’s atoms to drift apart.”

“So she can phase, like a ghost; and turn invisible, they sound like superhero powers,” Hans commented.

“Well, like I said, their telepathic powers have an affinity for the properties of hyperspace, so their physiological features have to be stronger, and I guess that includes having stronger powers,” Dana said.

“For someone who claims to not want to live in the telepathic world, you’ve certainly managed to attain much knowledge about it,” Maeve replied.

“I just pick up on conversations my sister has with the others. I suppose it comes from living with two telepaths over the summer,” Dana shrugged.

“Well, for all those extra abilities, Autumn seems quite…..calm, centered. She seems to really care about us,” Muirne said.

“I suppose. Personally I find her as mysterious as Stephen is,” Alexio said.

“Maybe next time, you should try and talk to her. You spent…what, maybe seconds with her when you acquired your crystal from her?” Muirne shot back.

Alexio waved her off, apparently unconvinced, “And yet, she wanted you two to use your powers without the jaunting bands. Seemed quite presumptuous that she would expect you two to use your powers in that manner safely. What if you and Maeve had said you weren’t ready to take your abilities to that next level?”

For once, Muirne didn’t have a retort for that statement. In fact, for a change, Alexio did make sense. For the first time, she wondered if all the training and activity they had been doing were just things to keep them busy, to keep them from asking too many questions. Obviously, all they had to go on were these veteran telepaths’ word. She wouldn’t allow Alexio to make her too paranoid, but these were valid questions which came to her head, something she would have to ask Stephen or Autumn when their day was complete.

“Is it true Autumn came from Earth’s past?” Hans asked.

“She has. I don’t know too much. I just know she helped Carol, Kenny, Warren….and a few others to escape from wherever it was…I think it was Atlantis,” Dana said thoughtfully.

“Atlantis?!” Hans replied so loud, he had caught the attention of a few passerby walking on the sidewalk.

“Hans, you have a mouth like a bullhorn, relax,” Alexio said as he made hand gestures to other people walking by, like he was apologizing for his friend’s outburst.

“Sorry,” Hans replied sheepishly.

“Well, all three of you stay here for a few minutes, Maeve and I have some personal business to attend to, won’t be long,” Muirne said as a blanket of seriousness covered her.

“Where are you going?” Dana asked.

The three curiously watched as the two sisters crossed the street, walked a bit before going inside a business. After a short minute, they saw the two come back out and walk up the street a short distance before stopping in front of another business. It was after observing them for a minute that Dana began to get restless.

“What are they doing? They’re just standing there,” Dana said.

“I know what they’re doing,” Hans quietly said.

“Yeah,” Alexio said as he looked at Hans, understanding the German’s respectful tone.

Dana began to pick up on the two boys’ emotional responses and it wasn’t until a few seconds later when she finally understood the significance of their sudden reverential replies. 

“Oh….their Aunt Collette.”

The threesome decided to take to a bench near them, sitting in their individual contemplation and getting in the sights from their seated area.

It was just over five minutes later when the two Sharpe sisters came back. Both had tearstained cheeks, but still presented motivated and energetic actions. They were ready for their final search for the last crystal. Maeve took charge and after contacting TIM to send coordinates to the groups jaunting bands, she telepathically gave them an image of where they would arrive at. Respectful of their right to privacy, no questions were asked of their earlier actions, as the three had correctly assumed why Maeve and Muirne did what they had. 

The twins had jaunted to a nearby place which they knew would never see a physical change, a local cemetery in Warrenpoint where their mother was interred at. 

“Are you two trying to depress us?” Dana asked as she realized the environment they had jaunted to.

Maeve looked at Dana and then laughed. “No. But this was the only place we knew of in Warrenpoint where we could be certain, wouldn’t have changed too much, if at all. Plus, where we’re at, it’s usually private and secluded.”

“Aye, besides we came here late last month to pay our annual respects to her,” Muirne said.

“So depending on where the last crystal is, we’ll be getting out of here momentarily,” Maeve said with a satisfied tone.

“Are you still wanting to not use our jaunting bands to find Autumn?” Hans asked.

Maeve looked at her sister for subtle confirmation. “Nooo…Muirne and I should practice on our telepathic tracking. We literally were able to find her within seconds of jaunting in her area, the first time around. I wanted us to come here because frankly, I’ve always found this place peaceful.”

The twin sisters touched fingertip to fingertip and visibly relaxed as they immersed their selves into telepathic link, until they found Autumn’s telepathic signature. Maeve then sent another telepathic image to the others regarding where they would jaunt to. 

The group of five had appeared across the way from a small building where quite a few people were. Getting visual confirmation from Maeve, the five relaxed and proceeded on their way across the roadway toward it. 

“And off the A2 road on the County Down bank of the Clanrye River, stands Narrow Water Castle. Looks like there aren’t too many visitors here or Autumn wouldn’t be there. Come along,” Maeve said with a surprisingly vibrant tone of a common tour guide.

“She’s happy to be here,” Hans commented.

“My sister has always loved this place. She was very upset when our dad had us move south. We don’t get up here as often as we like. For some reason, this monument has always been one of Maeve’s favorite places to come to,” Muirne explained.

As Muirne and Hans rushed to catch up to Maeve, Alexio noticed a new and unexpected expression cross Dana’s face.

“You okay, Dana?”

Dana seemed to be almost physically alarmed. She couldn’t help it. There was something about this place that had caught her off-guard and filled her with an anxious feeling. She looked at Alexio, shaking her head.

“I don’t know. I guess it’s nothing. Come along, we should catch up,” Dana said dismissively.

Alexio wasn’t convinced but he just went along with it for now. It wasn’t a minute later they had caught up to the others. They had all congregated outside the wall, looking outwards to the river, where there was a small building with a pointy roof. 

“Well, I supposed that makes sense. She’s inside,” Maeve softly remarked.

“You haven’t seen the inside, have you?” Hans asked curiously.

“No, we haven’t. Muirne, let’s touch fingertips. Maybe we can use our special powers to get a glance at the inner…..no, never mind, Autumn just sent me a telepathic image. Aye, I’ll be back.”

Maeve excitedly jaunted out of the area.

Alexio shook his head in an irked way. “I’m glad she happened to jaunt at a time when no one was looking in our direction.”

“Yes, she’s the impulsive one at times,” Muirne said as she noticed Dana looking around in what seemed to be in a literal paranoid state. “Dana, you okay?”

Dana continued to look around, having heard Muirne’s concerned voice but continued to slowly look about until she felt satisfied that no danger was coming. She then fixed her gaze on the others, who were looking upon her with some worry.

“I don’t know,” Dana quietly said.

“Well, are you not feeling well. We have been quite busy today, pushing our abilities. Are you tired?” Murine asked, worry in her voice. 

“I’m fine….it’s just….I’m not getting a good feeling about this place,” Dana said in a wary tone.

“You look tired and it has been a long day for all of us. I think after this we should go into town and relax with some good food before heading back to Havenshire,” Muirne said reassuringly.

Maeve jaunted into the small tower in the river. Immediately she saw Autumn and next to her was the crystal. 

“I have to commend you and your sister on the utilization of your abilities together, without using the supporting tech. How do you feel?”

Maeve nodded her head. “It wasn’t bad. We didn’t feel like our minds were collapsing together like we did when we first broke out. It’s not even a conscious thought trying to keep our minds out of each other for fear that we’ll become telepathically of one mind and person. It just happens now, as naturally as breathing, I suppose.”

“Is there anything you want to ask about the crystal?” Autumn asked.

“No, at least not right now. I learned everything about the crystal’s properties from the others,” Maeve said.

“It is good that you are getting to know each other,” Autumn said simply.

“Have you lost someone close to you?” Maeve suddenly asked.

Autumn gave a reserved sigh, causing Maeve to regret asking her that question.

“Sorry, I forget I lose my….what did my sister called it…..my filters, when I’m tired,” Maeve said in an embarrassed way. 

“I understand. And of course, this is part of your training as well. Knowing people whom you’ll be associating with. It’s one of the reasons I suggested to Stephen that this be made an international scavenger hunt. People will reveal their true selves when engaged in active and stressful situations. I’m sure this day hasn’t been easy on any of you. And later on, if you want, I will tell you about myself, just as I am hoping to know all about you and your sister more,” Autumn revealed.

Autumn recognized the young girl’s grateful smile and made a head motion for Maeve to collect her crystal. Once she claimed it, she suggested they jaunt back to the shore where Stephen no doubt had arrived by then. The two telepaths reappeared with the group, and rightly predicted by Autumn, talking with Stephen. 

“Are we ready, Stephen?” Autumn asked.

“We are, but Muirne wants to show the group a place where she and Maeve played at when they were younger,” Stephen responded.

“We won’t be long. Maybe twenty minutes…thirty tops,” Muirne replied.

“And also to have them try out some of the local cuisine,” Maeve added.

“How did you want to proceed, Stephen?” Autumn asked.

Stephen looked at each individual. They all had some tiredness in their eyes after all the usage of their special powers; however, there was also a sense of accomplishment and connection that hadn’t been there earlier. It was only Dana he was worried about, as she seemed to be distracted and anxious about something. But, maybe it was just how she handled a strenuous day such as this. Stephen came to a decision.

“Okay. But I want you all to come straight to the castle and meet me at the Lab afterwards, say in about an hour. Have TIM jaunt you to the Lab itself. We’ll break down and go over the day’s activities.

“We shall,” Murine quickly said.

The rest of the group nodded in affirmation.

Stephen looked about the physical environment. People were lazily browsing throughout the property but where they were, nobody would notice if they all had jaunted out of there at that time.

“Okay. We’ll see you five within in an hour, then. Ready to go Autumn?” Stephen asked.

“Indeed,” Autumn replied.

Stephen looked at her, a mischievous look on his features. “You do say ‘indeed’ a lot.”

Autumn shrugged her shoulders. “Indeed. Blame my Mentor-father. He said it all the time when I was a child.”

The group watched as the two older telepaths jaunted away. Muirne seemed quite eager for the group to jaunt to their childhood play place.

“Okay, I’ll telepathically send the image to you three and we’ll get going,” Muirne said.

Maeve took Dana aside a bit as the others were getting ready and looking about to make sure no one could see them.

“Dana, you seem distressed.”

“It’s nothing. This place just isn’t agreeing with me. I mean, there’s nothing going on, people are going about their business. Guess I just don’t like this place,” Dana said.

“Well, no worries. Where we’re going, you’re going to like very much. It’ll be a good way to celebrate the end of our day’s activities.”

Dana caught the sincere smile and emotion coming from Maeve and began to imitate the reaction herself. Feeling better, she followed Dana to the rest of the group.

“Looks like we’re good for a jaunt out in the open,” Hans said as he got a physical acknowledgment from Alexio.

Muirne was delighted, “Everybody ready? Okay, let’s jaunt.”

***

The group of five telepaths reappeared in what looked like the crumbling remains of a small castle. Muirne explained it used to be their favorite place for the young kids to go play at, until government couldn’t afford to care for its upkeep due to the increasing inflation crisis.

“Well, at least you have a clear sun roof,” Alexio snickered out loud as he noticed various areas of the ceiling had shown views clear to the sky.

“Clearly, the housecleaning staff said forget about it,” Dana chimed in.

“This looks like a fun place to have goofed around in,” Hans replied.

“You would,” Muirne exclaimed with a bit of laughter.

Hans glanced at Muirne happily and was surprised to receive the same response from her face, toward him.

“Oh, get a room,” Alexio grumbled not unkindly as he walked toward the other end of the visually chaotic room.

Dana noticed the good-natured smirk on his face, but he wouldn’t allow Muirne or Hans to see it. She could only shake her head and roll her eyes a bit.

“Wait…..what?” Hans immediately replied with slight confusion at Alexio’s earlier comment.

Maeve snickered loudly. “Wow, the baloney pony can make a joke.

Both Muirne and Dana burst out laughing, once again bringing puzzled looks to the boys.

“Oh, okay….now you’re going to tell me what this banana pony is all about,” Alexio shouted as he began to run toward Dana.

Dana unexpectedly squealed with shock before she took off toward the other room in front of her.

“No using our special powers, slow poke!” 

The youngest of the telepaths already had a good head start over Alexio when she had begun to run. The Irish twins were still laughing when they themselves began to quick pace towards the direction where the loud speaking silliness was at its strongest.

“Let’s do the hustle, Hans!” Muirne jokingly cried out to him.

“Okay. But I thought it was baloney pony, not banana pony!” Hans yelled back as he recognized the pop culture reference from an old disco song that came out some years back.

The laughter was a welcome relief after a full day of traveling using their special powers, and the pressure of getting to know each other. The physical and vocal release was immediately satisfying to them all, quickly freeing the stress of the day’s activities.

“Oh my god!” Dana cried out as she suddenly stopped short, prompting Alexio to have to adjust his speed so he wouldn’t crash into the thirteen-year-old. The others had also slowed down, coming to the realization that they were not alone. The group then realized they were in serious danger when they were surrounded by men levering guns at them, with one of them cursing and telling his men to shoot immediately.

[Jaunt! Jaunt! Jaunt for your lives! Now!]

It was Alexio who immediately pathed to the others, which prompted the group out of their shocked slowness and into quickly disappearing away, just as the guns began their music of violent shots.

Somehow, Dana and Alexio appeared within the same spot of each other. While grateful they were safe, they immediately called out to the others. Hans pathed that he was safe and could see Muirne on the other side of the building. Muirne pathed out to Maeve, whose response almost caused the Irish twin to yell out loud.

[What? Get out of there!]

Muirne ordered.

[I can’t. They have a bomb, I can see it. It has to be the IRA, sister-of-mine. They’re going to blow up something in our town. We have to - ]

Muirne distressfully shouted out her sister’s name. The way her communication was abruptly ended made Muirne immediately know Maeve was in danger. Before Alexio could say anything, she instinctually jaunted to Maeve’s position. Her sudden appearance next to her sister caused the men with guns to temporarily pause at this unexpected demonstration of jaunting skills, giving Muirne the split second she needed to telekinetically push the four men back over ten meters.

While Muirne was rescuing her sister, Dana telepathically told Alexio to jaunt to the other two men who were running toward the twins. She told him to touch the man’s skin and send a telekinetic shock through their system. They simultaneously jaunted and engaged and tussled with the men for a brief moment, before finally initiating Dana’s plan.

Hans was running back toward his friends before realizing that he had the ability to jaunt. Forcing himself to focus and think, he stopped. His heart and mind racing like they never had before. He saw the men that Muirne pushed back begin to get over their surprise and begin to come after them again. Noticing that Alexio and Dana were still busy with the other two terrorists, he thought about where he wanted to be and jaunted. He appeared directly between the Irish twins and the four men who were about to fire their weapons. But Hans was so concerned about his friends, that he couldn’t decide which special power to use, besides using his own body as a shield.

[Hans, Professor X telepathy!]

Dana pathed.

Hans immediately shouted and used his telepathy to distract and send an order to ‘stand down’ to their threat. The action seemed to work for two of the men who immediately stopped; but one of the other men who wasn’t affected managed to get a shot out, hitting the wall behind the twins. Hans saw the other man was about to fire when Alexio appeared from behind and used the same method of telekinesis from earlier to take the threat out. 

The remaining fourth man tried to fire his weapon at Hans but something was preventing him from pulling the trigger. Frustrated, and believing his rifle was jammed, he proceeded to cock the hammer back again but the weapon was aggressively taken out of his hands. He felt a hand grab his neck strongly and before he could react, he experienced what felt to be a strong electrical charge coursing over his body. He slumped down to the ground; Dana standing over him, breathing hard.

Dana suddenly felt an intuition, the same she felt at Narrow Water Tower, and it hit her strongly when she looked at the bomb. Maeve seemed to touch upon Dana’s awareness and automatically sent an image to Muirne. The two Irish sisters felt panic, quickly turning their heads to the deadly device and sent a strong telekinetic force to the bomb, breaking the contraption into differing components as it’s parts scattered along the perimeter it made.

Alexio and Dana quickly looked around for any more men who might’ve still been conscious. It felt unnaturally quiet, the only sound being heard was anxious, adrenaline-filled breaths from various members of the group.

[Stephen, we need help! TIM, home in on our jaunting bands!]

Alexio pathed.

It wasn’t more than ten seconds when Stephen and Autumn appeared; but this time, they had stun guns strapped to their hips. The two senior telepaths took a quick assessment of the area. Autumn spotted one of the men coming awake and she fired a shot, putting him back to sleep. 

Autumn went up to Dana and Alexio to discuss what happened, while Stephen went to the Irish twins to check that Maeve was doing okay. Hans was right by his side when he kneeled down to check on them.

“That’s a bit of a nasty gash there,” Stephen remarked.

Before he could do anything, Muirne instinctually placed her hand on the side of her sister’s head and a slight red glow became visible, as she began to heal her sister. Hans looked on incredulously at the event while Stephen just nodded his head, mildly impressed with Muirne’s display and control of her special powers.

“Is she going to be okay?” Hans breathlessly asked.

Stephen gave Hans a look of optimistic appraisal. “She will. We all have this ability.”

Maeve grasped Hans’s hand, giving him a smile on her quickly, recovering features. “You saved us. You stood in front of us and kept them from hurting us.”

Stephen eyed Hans with a growing amazement. “Really?”

Stephen assisted Muirne getting Maeve steady on her feet and closed the distance between her and Hans.

“You’re so stupid, putting yourself in between those guns and us. You big idiot,” Muirne stated with penetrating eyes. “But then, that’s probably why you’re a hero, isn’t it? Thank you.”

Hans was taken even more by surprise when Muirne gave him a quick, but intense hug, and then disengaged and promptly hit him on the shoulder, eliciting a shocked reaction from the confused boy.

Autumn was listening to Alexio and Dana’s review of the events which had just happened, while simultaneously looking at the objects strewn across the ground that used to be the bomb. After a quick assessment, she turned to the two teens.

“I am very proud that you two were able to help yourselves and the others. I am very regretful for leaving you on your own. This would’ve never happened if we had stayed until you all were ready to jaunt back to Havenshire,” Autumn’s tone was apologetic sounding.

“It’s not yours or Stephen’s fault. We just happened to come upon these…..IRA goons at a place that Maeve and Muirne wanted to show us. Just…something from their childhood they wanted to share with the group. Nobody could’ve known,” Dana said.

Alexio didn’t say anything but nodded his head in agreement to Dana’s statement. He also noticed a few of the men were starting to become conscious again and alerted Stephen.

Stephen gathered everyone in by eye. “Everyone here able to stand and stay focused? No injuries?”

Everyone stated they were fine, just tired from the past five minutes. 

“Okay, I’m going to have TIM jaunt you all back directly to the Lab. It’s not finished, but it’s completed enough to where you can have something to eat, drink and recuperate. Autumn and I will take care of the bomb and these IRA Saps,” Stephen said.

The five didn’t argue with Stephen as he called TIM to jaunt them back to Havenshire. Once the five disappeared, Stephen looked back at Autumn, who in turn, looked around at the various unconscious bodies and bomb parts.

Stephen sighed. “Well, let’s get to it then.”

“Agreed,” Autumn said.

***

Havenshire Castle, Scotland

The Stephen-named neopaths jaunted back to the newest incarnation of the Lab, looking none the worse for wear. TIM had prompted them to come to one of the tables in front of them from their appearance on the jaunting pads to replenish and recuperate from the long day’s activities. While there were still unopened boxes and unassembled equipment, the Lab looked like it was finally starting to take shape. 

Hans, Dana, Maeve, Muirne, and Alexio tiredly took their individual seats, while TIM had glasses of water and healthy snacks appear before them on the table’s surface. All of them, except Dana, looked on curiously and in awe of TIM’s materialization of the food. Still, they were quiet mostly, taking small bites and drinking on occasion. 

“Maeve, I’m actually looking forward to some of your developing chef skills you keep talking about. Nothing against you TIM, but I would rather have food I’ve seen that’s been cooked or bought at a store,” Alexio commented, attempting to start a light conversation.

|No offense taken, Alexio. There are many individuals across the five galaxies who are more comfortable with non-replicated foodstuffs|

TIM replied.

“Mein Gott, there are five galaxies of us out there?” Hans said in awe.

|That is correct, Hans. I am sure in the near future, all of you will travel to at least a few of them|

TIM said with his consistently calm and paternal voice.

“That’s….amazing,” Maeve said.

Dana sighed. “That truly does sounds like quite a life, TIM. It’s no wonder my sister lives out there. Still, I guess I should be glad she lives within this galaxy.”

“We need to get a good grasp of our abilities so what happened earlier doesn’t happen again,” Muirne said suddenly.

The other members of the group turned their attention to the obviously concerned Irish teen, who was intently looking at Hans.

“You shouldn’t have had to jump in between us like that. What were you thinking?”

“I wasn’t. I reacted,” Hans said looking somewhat downcast. “I just did what needed to be done.”

“You needed Dana to tell you get you out of your confusion, Hans!”

Muirne’s nervousness and anxiousness was apparent to everyone, she recognized. She released a loud sounding breath and shook her head, apologizing for her outburst.

“There’s no need to apologize, Muirne. You were scared and….you didn’t want to be responsible for Hans getting hurt…or worse. It’s not your fault, it’s not his fault. In this instance, we were in the wrong place at the wrong time and absolutely nobody could’ve foreseen this,” Alexio stated.

Dana was inwardly surprised by Alexio’s purposeful and thought out statement, especially to Muirne and Hans, whom he hadn’t been able to get along with since arriving a few weeks ago. While she could foresee there would obviously still be some type of friction between the three of them, there seemed to be an intent respect and understanding coming from Alexio himself. She was stunned to realize that she didn’t seem to have much in common with them, all of whom had some kind of violent past or legacy that affected their life in some way. 

“We all will need to attain the knowledge needed to deal with our special powers,” Hans said. “But I have no regrets for the actions I did, and I would do it again if it gave my friends time to save themselves. But I do want to thank Dana. I’m not totally involved in myself to not realize that if it wasn’t for her ‘Professor X’ mention, I wouldn’t have gotten the idea to telepathically order those IRA goons to stand down.”

“That is true. You got some good knowledge going there. More than I do,” Alexio agreed as he looked over at Dana. “I never would’ve thought of that….telekinetically induced shock that we used against them to knock them out. You learn that trick from your sisters?”

Dana was shocked when she saw the agreeing faces of the group.

“Um….it was just something I had heard about from Mike. He said John used it a few years ago when he was needing ‘assistance’ at the time. We should be thanking Muirne and Maeve for disabling that bomb. You two have some wicked strength to your abilities when you’re together. You two saved us all,” Dana said, forcing the attention from herself to the twins.

“We got lucky,” Maeve said. “We did. Both of us were somewhat panicking. I know I was. I was barely coherent and I remembered about our Aunt, and….I knew we….we just got lucky. For all we know, if it was a more complicated bomb, it could’ve exploded on us anyway. We got lucky. Besides, we would’ve been dead if Alexio hadn’t jammed into our minds, ordering us to jaunt for our lives.”

“Well, this time. But you all certainly didn’t need that type of intensity when we were in my hometown earlier today. You all deserved a better leader than what you got,” Alexio confessed.

Maeve was thoughtful, as she was about to comment on Alexio’s response. “I don’t think it’s not having the leadership skills….well, actually…yes it is. But we’re all in that predicament. I mean, look at us. We’re a group that’s barely into our teens and not yet sixteen years old; expected to take over the world, save it from itself. On top of that, a few of us have already seen the violence this world can hand out…towards kids our age no less. It’s crazy. I don’t know about you, but I’m not going to automatically know what to do when stuff does begin to hit the fan, not without more training and knowledge, anyway.”

|If I may interject an observation? |

TIM said.

The group of five turned their heads upward to the biotronic computer, whom they had the developing realization, was more than just electronics, wires, and fluid in tubes.

|The five of you have grown into this new environment on your terms. It wasn’t expected that you would accept your acclimation into this unique world immediately without concerns. Each are your own individuals. You all have had the chance to figure out how you want to know each other. In the history of my existence being on Earth, this is the first time a group of five has had to adjust to each other at the same time, so soon after breakout. This scavenger hunt has been a unique and appropriate way to assist in getting used to your special powers and each other| 

“This is true. But I still have a lot to learn. Autumn and I should’ve stayed with you lot until you were ready to jaunt back to the Lab.”

All heads turned towards Stephen, who was stepping down from the jaunting pad, Autumn by his side. He took a seat at the table next to the twins and asked TIM for a water. Autumn asked for the same of as she sat next to Dana.

“So, we took care of the men, who are with the proper authorities,” Stephen started as he looked at the twins. “You were right, they were known IRA members. We heard a few of the policemen state this as they were taking them in.”

“The police saw you?” Alexio asked.

Autumn shook her head. “We used a natural chameleon shift to hide our identities. All the policemen saw were two male detectives, commonly seen in that area. It’s another part of our special powers which we’ll teach to you soon.”

“What about the Narrow Water Castle?” Dana asked.

Stephen took over the conversation. “Autumn and I found nothing there with the equipment we had TIM jaunt over to us. We visually looked everywhere and there was no danger.”

Stephen thought he saw uncertainty coming from the youngest of them.

“Dana, I don’t want you to overlook your intuition. Your sister Carol has this precognition gift also and I won’t ever discount it, and I’m hoping that you won’t either,” Stephen assured the young blonde teen.

“The five of you were brave and courageous with that unexpected, last-minute event. I’m just very grateful that none of you got hurt, or killed,” Autumn said sincerely.

Dana could sense an intense emotion of loss when the older woman mentioned that last word in the sentence. She could tell that Autumn was still experiencing a personal loss, and she suspected that the former village princess would’ve had a hard time forgiving herself if anything tragic had happened to the group on this ordinary training day.

“So, everyone is fine, then. No lasting injuries,” Stephen asked.

The negative responses from the five individuals brought a noticeable relief to Stephen’s features. However, Dana was also miffed that in the ensuing fight, her camera got damaged with a cracked lens. It was quiet around the table for a bit.

“I have a question about Maeve and myself. Our letter had us assume that we should use our special powers together. Now knowing how we first broke out and were in danger of becoming one entity; what would you have done if we weren’t comfortable using them in that capacity? I mean, all we’ve had is your word to go by, in regards to our….new developing life,” Muirne asked.

Stephen nodded his head observing his neopaths, who were rightfully expectant of an answer. He looked over at Autumn, who also presented a display of calm expectation. 

“Right, and so you should ask. After having spent some extended time with all of you these past few weeks, I’ve been able to see that if you truly would’ve had some concerns, you would’ve said something. My back up plan was for you two to continue using your jaunting bands, or to have everyone participate in the telepathic tracking. Now I’m not going to say I anticipated your question; my only thing was to see if you two were comfortable utilizing that aspect of your abilities without technical support. I can say that these questions you’re asking, means that you’re thinking about things, as you should. It also means that you’re becoming comfortable enough to ask these questions and to expect an answer.”

Stephen empathically could feel his response bringing the group to a more comfortable ease, except Alexio.

“Are we going to be forced to stay here?” Alexio asked abruptly.

“I don’t believe you will be required to stay here at Havenshire. However, and I will be direct about this, Autumn and I aren’t the people to talk to about this. I’ve been off world for over three years and Autumn has only now started to familiarize herself on how we do things around here. I can say for certain that in the previous Lab, John and the others did have living quarters, such as we obviously have now, thanks to the generosity of Eli and Iona. I’m pretty sure the people we would have to talk to are John and Elizabeth,” Stephen responded.

“Okay,” Alexio said simply.

“Well, I appreciate your candor as much as Alexio does, I’m sure,” Hans said. “But like Alexio, I need to stay where I’m at for the time being. I have family responsibilities to take care of, as I’m sure all of us have to some degree. I’m sure it’s easier for the girls to possibly stay here because they all don’t live too far away in Great Britain or Ireland.”

“Jaunting makes distance irrelevant so I’m sure you could stay with your families. At this point, I would personally have you all come back here every other week to check in. I know there are things moving forward regarding training and observations on planet, as well as off planet.” 

Stephen could sense the anxiousness coming from Hans and Alexio. Something he could understand personally. The discussion also made him realize something unique about this group.

“Alexio and Hans, I’m actually very appreciative that you two have become Tomorrow People. Most of us have come from or are connected to the British Isles in some form or another. As much as I can gather, only Kim and Hsui-Tai brokeout in different parts of the world outside of Great Britain. Alexio, you in particular are very important, as you’ve come from a part of the world that usually isn’t mentioned, unless it’s on the news. I know as we are currently at, the Tomorrow People are very Western Civ oriented. And if we’re going to bring about peace in this world, we’re going to have to expand our horizons with the potential Tomorrow People who come from all corners of the globe. It’s not automatically going to happen if we can’t understand the circumstances and backgrounds in which all of us have come from,” Stephen explained.

Alexio nodded his head in agreement as he watched Stephen fiddle with his drink for a bit.

“The five of you have bonded more quickly than I expected, to be honest. From what I’ve learned about you, all of you have some kind of direct connection with various wars, past and present which have gone on throughout the decades. As you come to get to know more about each other, and us, who’ve been here for years, these connections will consist mostly of happier times than sad ones,” Stephen explained.

“Hence, the reason for this scavenger hunt,” Dana said.

Stephen nodded. “Between Autumn and me, we initiated this team-building exercise. The part of my idea was to put you in situations which would require you to work together, to get to know each other. To make those connections without the worry of having some peculiar bad guy coming after you, like what happened with most of us who have broke out so far over the years. Autumn’s idea came about with having all of you jaunt to places you all were familiar with, to maybe understand the backgrounds which you all have come from, and to have more interactions with TIM and your jaunting bands.”

Autumn came into the discussion. “My training was very similar along these lines. My Mentor-father had me work through all my abilities. I worked with my Bond-sister and best friend, Ariel to help keep us strong with the skills we developed. When your people; Kenny, Carol, Warren, Kim, and the Time Guardians arrived, we all had to figure out how to work together. And we literally had to learn on the run. If you’re lucky, you won’t have to learn in such stressful circumstances.”

Stephen came back into the discussion, thoughtfully explaining his goals and hopes.

“I feel that you five will be the beginning of a new way the Tomorrow People will have to adapt to. We used to being with people breaking out within our country, all of us will have to learn to make these more international connections. I’m sure there are Tomorrow People in the non-Western cultures and Southern Hemisphere. Whether in cities, small towns, deserts, jungles….we’ll more than likely have to come to them and convince them that we are all one of the same. Some, we’ll have to bring up to speed. But we’re going to have to promote an understanding of our mission, probably through their own specific cultural and societal norms. In a way, Mike Bell is starting to do this within his familiar music environment with his band. TIM, didn’t you mention that because we have a specific number of Tomorrow People, that the Federation will take some of us on trips throughout the five galaxies; to observe and even help developing planets who have recently had their telepaths take over?

|That is the plan, Stephen. Timus has spoken to the Council and Earth is soon to be qualified to visit such planets|

TIM said.

“Why would we want to go….out there?” Muirne asked with slight trepidation in her tone.

“This is something the Federation has always initiated with its young members. Once a planet has reached a certain number of telepaths, they get to observe how other societies have fared with having telepaths take charge,” Stephen said.

“Not to scare anyone, but I’ve heard that we’ll have the capacity to observe planets which have not succeeded. Some whose telepaths are having to be moved to a differing planet altogether because their society just could not emerge with the majority of their individuals being telepaths,” Autumn said.

“You’re going to expect a lot out of us. Aren’t you?” Maeve asked.

Stephen nodded. “We expect a lot out of everyone, and the Federation expects an even more commitment and dedication from any of their member worlds.”

Stephen glanced at his watch and then looked at Autumn, who in turn gave him an acknowledging nod. They both got up from their chairs, somewhat surprising the five who had been seated there longer than the veteran telepaths.

“What…where are you going?” Dana asked suddenly.

“Autumn and I are going to the cave where the Starbird is kept. Andrew, Jennifer, and Staarla there working on few things there. You can get to know them and have a bit of fun also. After a long day like this, I’m sure you all could use some relaxing action for a bit,” Stephen said.

“You all might even be able to take a flight in the Starbird if those three have everything up to….standard with the spacecraft,” Autumn explained.

“Spacecraft? Really?” Hans asked with an excited tone in his voice. “I would love to go into space again.”

“Showoff,” Muirne said with a somewhat jealous voice.

“Yes…just like in Star Wars,” Hans said.

“Sure, we’ll catch up in a bit, I’m sure. Although, I’m thinking we all might not have your attention for a bit, yeah?” Dana said as she thought about her middle sister, Jennifer.

Stephen gave Dana a raised eyebrow, who reciprocated by giving him a sardonic reaction. 

“Even I’m curious about this craft that my sister used to escape Earth’s past with,” Dana added as she brought her attention back to the group.

The five watched as the older telepaths stood on the jaunting platform, touched their jaunting bands, and disappeared in front of them. 

Dana, Maeve, Muirne, Hans and Alexio silently reflected on Stephen and Autumn’s words. The fact that TIM was overhead hadn’t deterred them from commenting frankly on their observations of the past day.

“Well, as loathe as I am to admit it, Stephen is correct in that we all have some type of personal legacy related to the effects of politics and war on this planet,” Dana said quietly.

“So what, am I expected to put the world first, instead of using my special powers to help my own country? Because I can tell you all of you now, no one here probably didn’t care about what’s been happening in Argentina with the missing children” Alexio responded with his familiar agitated tone.

“It’s not that no one cared, but because we never heard about it. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t listen to nor pay attention to what’s going on locally, much less the world,” Dana admitted. “And why should I have? I’m only thirteen years old.”

“True, we are only kids, but now we have responsibilities which can really and potentially, change the world for the better, or for the worst. To help with their problems and disagreements, or add to them,” Hans replied.

“Well, If that’s the case, I think Mike Bell has a good idea. Going into countries with his band. I could conceivably do the same thing with my developing music and acting career once it gets started. Still, there is a reason why the Tomorrow People have stayed hidden all this time,” Muirne said.

“Not hidden, much,” Maeve corrected her sister. “Just making sure people are not aware of us, or presume that we are some….urban myth. We know the governments have gone out of their way to cover up events that can potentially cause chaos. This….outer space war with these….Thargons and other aliens this past spring, America has gone out of its way to tell other countries that it wasn’t real and the Saps have actually bought into it. We can still make a difference in how this world will accept us, but it’s going to take time. We might not be able to convince certain governments that we don’t exist, but that doesn’t mean we flaunt ourselves for the whole world to see before it’s truly ready…not yet, anyway.”

“Well, I’m looking forward to it,” Hans replied with no hint of cynicism or irony. “It’s what my mother would’ve wanted me to do, I’m sure. But most importantly, it’s what I want to do.”

The others looked at Hans thoughtfully, as if they too were sizing up their personal reasons to contribute to the world in some way.

“Well, as was explained by Stephen regarding Mike Bell, it would be helpful to go out into the world and still live among the Saps. Get a sense of what concerns, fears, joys, and dreams that affect them,” Muirne replied.

“I agree. Not all of us have to be fighting against aliens and governments all the time. Some of us will be going about the usual and unimportant, day to day activities. Muirne with her singing, myself with developing my culinary skills and opening a restaurant, Dana with her photography, Hans you said you were working on writing. All of us can use our personal gifts to outside of her special powers to make those connections with the Saps,” Maeve explained.

“I’m taking care of my part of the world first,” Alexio said as he looked at all four in turn. “I’m still hesitant to trust this whole Tomorrow People concept. I mean, it seems like we have a choice for decisions on Earth, but when it comes to the Federation….my understanding is that we don’t seem to have much of a choice. Dana, what have your sisters said about this aspect? I mean, am I wrong to be thinking this?”

Dana thought for a good while, pondering the Alexio’s question. “I can only go by what my two sisters have said. They both have a life out there amond the Federation worlds. They’re both happy. Even when Jennifer lived with my brother-in-law and nephew on another planet, she was fine. They have choices. My understanding is recently, Elizabeth decided to step down as Earth’s ambassador because she wanted to focus on individuals she could more readily affect here on Earth. So again, she had a choice to step back from Federation duties. But again, I can only speak for what my sisters have experienced and what I’ve heard.”

The group thought about her response for a bit.

“Well, I do trust you four. And I will do my best to give you all the benefit of the doubt and be there if you do need help,” Alexio said.

|If I may interject with another observation?|

TIM said.

All five heads simultaneously looked upward at the biotronic computer.

|Hans, Alexio, Maeve, Muirne, Dana, you five are the beginnings of the next type of telepaths to be found, making our immediate world more broadened as we commence into a new era of development. With the anticipation of more telepaths breaking out, we will also have to change how we accept and interact with the varied backgrounds and cultures these new Tomorrow People of Earth will invariably come to bring. The Tomorrow People you have met come from a time when only a few telepaths would breakout in any given year. I will expect these new changes regarding the quantity of breakouts, will be challenging for our veteran telepaths, but I can also assure you, that we are a highly adaptable group, persevering through these conceivably exciting times ahead. You five can help John, Elizabeth, Stephen, and the other veteran teleapths, to acknowledge more of the world that is out there, just as they can present a wider universe for you to experience. All of you are in for exciting days, not just of obligation and accountability, but one of wonder, curiosity, opportunity and learning. I…. personally, look forward to assisting you in the duties and responsibilities, expected of you all; as eventually, you will also become mentors to more emerging telepaths. I personally extend an official welcome, to the newest Tomorrow People|

The table they sat at glowed briefly as the dematerialization of their used glasses were replaced with five full glasses. After a slight hesitation, the group gathered their drinks.

“A toast then,” Hans said.

“Wait…TIM, are you able to make any kind of food appear on these tables?” Maeve asked with a slight distress in her voice.

|I can. However, I do know of your developing skills as a chef and no one is obligated to only eat the food I materialize|

Alexio observed the emotional relief sweep across the young, Irish teen’s features. He couldn’t help but have a bittersweet emotion to her reaction. Even with her family’s run-in with the IRA which killed their relative, she was still able to plan for a future career. At this time in his life, it was one of the many things he couldn’t bring himself to worry about, yet. He glanced at TIM thoughtfully, as he felt the computer, no…..biotronic computer was quite sure of itself that they all would so willingly come to understand their place and responsibility in the world. However, there was something quite paternal that the tanned, Argentinian would catch from this peculiar machine that was suspended from the ceiling, with its various tubes and colors flowing to and from the four balls, a voice which Alexio couldn’t help but inherently trust. It was something he was beginning to feel with the four people he had spent all day with and he wondered if it had something to do with the telepathy he was developing and becoming more comfortable with. 

“Well, if it’s a toast we’re doing, we should do it right,” Alexio said as he began to raise his glass.

“Well then, here here,” Muirne said as she directed her gaze to Dana. “That is how you Britons say this?”

Dana raised her eyebrows with amusement at the Irish twin’s jokingly-said question.

“Sure, we’ll have so much fun and be lifelong friends,” Dana said with a false high-pitched American sounding voice.

“I know that line! It’s from….Grease!” Hans abruptly said to Dana’s highly sarcastic response to Muirne.

“That’s right.”

Both Dana and Muirne responded with varying degrees of tone and sarcasm, both began to slowly develop embarrassing smiles with the realization of their simultaneous response.

“I think I liked it better when all of you were talking about Star Wars,” Alexio exasperated in his voice.

“Amen,” Maeve exasperatedly replied.

“Speaking of, let’s check out this spacecraft that’s in the cave,” Muirne reminded them.

The majority of the group got up quickly and began to proceed to the jaunting pad. Only Dana moved slowly, as she put her hand in her pocket, feeling for the Teepuh Crystal, which she still hadn’t bonded with yet. She realized there had been a lot of discussion about legacies, whether through her personal connection with her sisters, or the group’s shared legacy of experiencing Sap-made violence and death. Still, she wasn’t ready to put her essence in it, but she also wasn’t ready to completely let go of it either. A sudden thought occurred to her. 

“TIM, are you able to see if Stephen is talking to Jennifer?”

|I believe Stephen did mention he was going to have a chat with her when he returned the first time; before he and Autumn had to go back to lend assistance to your group’s situation|

Dana sighed. “Oh bother.”

|Dana. Stephen does care about Jennifer|

“Well, I have many concerns about that,” Dana said as she began to follow the others to the jaunting pad, their conversations distracting her from TIM.

“So is anyone ever going to tell me what this ‘banana pony’ is?” Alexio asked.

“That’s baloney pony, Alexio,” Dana said on the verge of chuckling at the Argentinian’s wrong word usage of the description. 

An abrupt and unexpected laughter came unbidden from within the Lab. It only took them a second to realize it was coming from TIM.

“Oh my god, he knows what ‘baloney pony’ is,” Dana’s face was flush with embarrassment and she immediately jaunted out the area.

Maeve and Muirne were also standing, steadfast, at a loss of what to do. Both Alexio and Hans were staring at them with suspicious eyes.

“Right….well,” Muirne finished and jaunted away, Maeve quickly imitating her twin sister’s actions.

Alexio and Hans could only look at each other with profound exasperation before jaunting away themselves.

TIM continued to laugh until he realized he was the only presence in the Lab. He quickly cleared his vocal modules and the room became quiet again.


End file.
